The 
RUSSIAN  IMMIGRANT! 


BY 


JEROME 'DAVIS 

e  Cuder  Fellow  in  Sociology 
a'  Columbia  University 
<ta;  c  Pro^ssor  of  Sociology 
it   L>arfrr;ui!th  Coilepe 


!ui  n  ited  in  partial  fulfillment  01  th?  requiremenis 
foi  the  Hegree  of  Doctor  ol  Philosophy 

in  the 

Faculty  of  Political  Scien 
Columbia  University 


THE  M  ACM  ILL  AN  COMPANY 

1922 


EXCHANGE 


The    "  '"" 
RUSSIAN  IMMIGRANT 


BY 


JEROME[DAVIS 

Sometime  Gilder  Fellow  in  Sociology 

at  Columbia  University 

Assistant  Professor  of  Sociology 

at  Dartmouth  College 


Submitted  in  partial  fulfillment  of  the  requirements 
for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy 

in  the 

Faculty  of  Political  Science 
Columbia  University 


JJeto  gorfe 
THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

1922 


COPYRIGHT,  1922 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

Set  up  and  printed.     Published  September,  1922 


PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


i 


To  the  Russian  workingmen  whose 
unstinted  toil  helps  to  maintain  the 
basic  industrial  mechanism  of  Amer 
ica,  but  who  for  the  most  part  are  by 
this  very  service  kept  out  of  reach 
of  the  warm,  friendly  heart  of  our 
people. 


5.174G1 


VITA 

The  author  of  this  dissertation,  Jerome  Davis, 
was  born  Dec.  2,  1891,  at  Kioto,  Japan.  He  was 
prepared  for  college  at  Newton  High  School,  New 
ton,  Mass.,  and  at  Oberlin  Academy,  Oberlin,  Ohio. 
He  completed  his  collegiate  work  at  Oberlin  Col 
lege  in  1913,  majoring  in  economics,  and  was  gradu 
ated  with  the  degree  of  A.  B. 

In  1914-15  he  studied  at  Union  Theological  Sem 
inary  and  Columbia  University,  in  1915-16  continu 
ing  his  graduate  work  at  Oberlin  Theological  Sem 
inary.  From  1916  to  1918  he  was  in  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
War  Work  in  Russia.  In  the  spring  of  1919  he 
completed  the  work  for  the  Master's  degree  at 
Columbia  University,  and  the  following  year  con 
tinued  graduate  study  at  Columbia  University  and 
Union  Theological  Seminary.  He  received  the 
diploma  of  the  Seminary  in  1920.  In  1920-21  he 
was  Gilder  Fellow  in  Sociology  at  Columbia  Uni 
versity.  In  1921  he  became  assistant  professor  of 
sociology  at  Dartmouth  College.  Besides  contribut 
ing  a  number  of  articles  to  periodicals,  he  assisted 
in  the  preparation  of  a  Summary  of  Housing  Laws 
in  the  United  States  and  Canada,  which  was  pub 
lished  by  the  Minneapolis  Civic  and  Commerce 
Association  in  1914. 


PREFACE 

SOCIOLOGY  must  begin  its  investigations  with  ob 
servation.  As  Dr.  Giddings  says  of  it,  ''Descrip 
tion  and  history  will  keep  well  in  advance  of  ex 
planation."  *  Of  such  a  study  as  The  Russian  Im 
migrant,  this  is  especially  true.  Moreover,  this  sub 
ject  does  not  readily  lend  itself  to  adequate  statis 
tical  treatment — the  data  thus  far  collected  by  our 
Federal  Government  are  too  meager,  and  to  attempt 
an  independent  investigation  would  involve  large 
resources  and  an  extensive  organization.  The  pres 
ent  monograph  is  an  attempt  to  describe  only  the 
main  social  forces  impinging  on  the  Russian  in 
America,  and  their  inevitable  effect  on  his  mind. 

Of  many  shortcomings  in  this  treatise,  the  writer 
is  very  much  aware.  At  best  it  can  be  but  an  ap 
proximation  of  conditions  among  the  majority  of 
Russians  in  this  country.  The  reader  must  bear  in 
mind  that  the  research  was  made  during  a  period 
when  the  Russian's  attitude  was  affected  by  the 
great  social  upheaval  in  his  native  land,  and  must 
remember  that  in  America  one  result  of  the  war 
spirit  was  a  series  of  repressive  measures  against 
aliens,  especially  Russians. 

1  Giddings,  F.  H.,  The  Principles  of  Sociology  (New  York,  1916), 
p.  54. 

vii 


viii  Preface 

Since  the  bulk  of  the  Russian  immigration  to  the 
United  States  is  made  up  of  the  peasant  and  work 
ing  classes,  it  is  with  them  that  we  are  chiefly  con 
cerned.  By  Russian,  as  used  here,  is  meant  the 
Great  Russian,  inhabiting  Central  Russia ;  the  White 
Russian,  living  between  Poland  and  Russia ;  and  the 
Little  Russian,  from  what  was  formerly  South  Rus 
sia.  It  does  not  include  the  Jews,  Poles,  Finns, 
Letts,  Lithuanians,  Ruthenians  from  Galicia,  or 
other  Slavic  races.  Throughout  this  study  we  shall 
refer  to  the  Russian  group  defined  above  as  Rus 
sians  or  Russian  Slavs  interchangeably. 

The  method  employed  has  been  as  follows :  First, 
the  printed  matter  available  on  the  Russians  in 
America  was  analyzed.  A  partial  list  of  books, 
pamphlets,  and  government  reports  used  is  to  be 
found  in  the  appendix.2  Second,  unpublished  mate 
rials,  the  result  of  surveys  made  by  others,  were 
utilized.  Among  these  were  researches  by  Mr.  Cole 
of  Chicago,  by  the  Russian  Division  of  the  Foreign 

2  The  only  book  which  the  author  found  dealing  exclusively  with 
immigrants  from  the  Russian  empire  was  a  paper-bound  volume 
entitled  The  Russians  in  America,  which  dealt  with  Jews  and 
Poles  as  well  as  the  Russian  Slavs  and  was  available  only  in 
the  Russian  language.  The  author,  Mr.  Vilchur,  was  formerly 
editor  of  The  Russkoye  Slovo,  a  Russian  newspaper  printed  in  New 
York.  His  book  is  more  in  the  nature  of  a  popular  historical  sketch 
than  of  an  analysis  of  the  relationship  of  the  Russian  to  our 
American  society.  In  addition  to  this,  there  was  a  pamphlet  in 
Russian,  On  the  Question  of  the  Organization  of  the  Russian  Colony, 
the  result  of  a  study  made  by  E.  I.  Omeltchenko,  a  member  of  the 
Extraordinary  Russian  Mission  sent  to  the  United  States  by 
Kerensky  in  1917.  This  contains  the  results  of  personal  visits  to 
the  various  Russian  colonies,  and  the  conclusions  reached  are 
important. 


Preface  ix 

Language  Governmental  Information  Bureau,  by  the 
Carnegie  Foundation,  by  the  Inter-Racial  Council, 
and  by  Mr.  Sack  of  the  Russian  Information  Bu 
reau.  Third,  a  personal  investigation  of  Russian 
groups  in  the  United  States  was  made.  The  writer 
was  particularly  fortunate  in  having  had  the  back 
ground  of  two  years  and  a  half  in  Russia  and  a 
knowledge  of  the  Russian  language,  without  which 
this  study  would  have  been  impossible.  He  per 
sonally  visited  the  following  cities,  each  one  being 
the  headquarters  of  a  district  of  the  Russian  Greek 
Orthodox  Church  in  America:  New  York,  includ 
ing  Brooklyn;  Bridgeport  and  Hartford,  Conn.; 
Boston,  Philadelphia,  Scranton,  Olyphant,  Coaldale, 
Pittsburgh,  Donora,  in  Pennsylvania;  Cleveland, 
Detroit,  Chicago,  Minneapolis.  Others  he  visited 
were  Ansonia,  Waterbury,  Seymour,  and  New  Ha 
ven,  Conn. ;  Braddock  and  McKees  Rocks,  Pa. ; 
Akron,  Ohio;  and  Denver.  Among  Russians  in  the 
states  of  North  Dakota,  Washington,  and  Califor 
nia,  special  investigations  were  made  on  a  uniform 
basis,  and  the  detailed  reports  were  incorporated 
with  those  gained  by  personal  investigation.  In 
each  of  the  communities  the  leaders  of  the  various 
Russian  groups  were  interviewed.  These  included 
any  or  all  of  the  following:  (a)  the  Russian  priests, 
(b)  the  Russian  consul,  (c)  the  editors  of  Rus 
sian  papers,  (d)  Russian  professional  men,  (e) 
Russian  workmen  or  farmers.  Where  possible, 
visits  were  made  to  observe:  (a)  workmen's  clubs, 


x  Preface 

(b)  Russian  Socialist  or  Communist  party  head 
quarters,  (c)  typical  homes  of  Russian  workmen 
including  boarding  houses.  In  some  cases,  con 
ferences  were  held  with  the  following  American 
agencies  when  they  were  doing  work  for  Russians: 
(a)  American  churches,  (b)  Americanization  com 
mittees,  (c)  industrial  or  Americanization  Y.M. 
C.A.  secretaries,  (d)  International  Institutes  of 
the  Y.W.C.A.,  (e)  banks,  (f)  labor  union  offi 
cials,  (g)  employers  of  Russian  labor,  (h)  public 
hospitals  where  Russians  are  treated,  (i)  U.  S.  Im 
migration  officers,  (j)  teachers  or  experts  who  had 
special  contacts  with  foreigners.  Russians  impris 
oned  on  Ellis  Island  and  in  Hartford  were  also  per 
sonally  interviewed.  Later,  with  the  authorization 
of  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  Labor,  Mr.  Post,  the 
writer  talked  with  over  one  hundred  other  Russians 
imprisoned  by  the  Federal  Government  in  Detroit 
and  Pittsburgh. 

The  writer  wishes  to  express  his  appreciation  of 
courtesies  extended  him  in  securing  copies  of  letters, 
documents,  and  articles  from  the  Foreign  Language 
Governmental  Information  Bureau,  now  under  the 
American  Red  Cross. 

He  is  indebted  to  the  various  authors  of  the 
Americanization  studies  of  the  Carnegie  Founda 
tion  for  original  material  and  for  permitting  access 
to  advance  copies  of  their  manuscripts,  and  to 
the  Research  Department  of  the  National  Board 
of  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Association 


Preface  xi 

for  allowing  the  freedom  of  their  files.  He  ac 
knowledges  the  kindness  of  the  United  States  De 
partment  of  Labor  in  having  given  him  every  as 
sistance  in  visiting  the  prisons  where  Russians  were 
confined  and  in  furnishing  original  data.  His 
warmest  thanks  are  due  especially  to  all  the  Russian 
individuals  and  groups  too  numerous  to  mention, 
who  gave  so  generously  of  their  time,  and  whose 
cooperation  was  essential  to  the  completion  of  the 
study. 

The  author  is  grateful  to  Dr.  Thomas  Reed 
Powell,  Dr.  Henry  R.  Seager,  Dr.  Robert  E.  Chad- 
dock,  Dr.  W.  F.  Ogburn,  and  Dr.  R.  S.  Wood- 
worth  for  reading  certain  chapters  or  making  help 
ful  criticism.  He  desires  also  to  express  his  especial 
appreciation  of  the  assistance  of  Dr.  Alvan  A.  Ten- 
ney.  To  Dr.  Franklin  H.  Giddings  the  writer  feels 
under  lasting  obligation  for  being  the  first  to  open 
his  mind  to  the  deeper  implications  of  sociology  and 
for  influencing  his  thinking  on  the  subject  of  this 
study. 

The  responsibility  for  the  viewpoint  taken  and 
for  any  errors  or  shortcomings  in  the  treatment, 
rests  on  the  writer  alone. 


CONTENTS 

PREFACE.     Scope  and  Method    ....  vii 

CHAPTER  I.     Introduction:      the      Russian 

Problem I 

1.  Importance  of  the  problem  ...  2 

2.  Dearth  of  knowledge  about  Russians 

in  America 4 

3.  This  study  a  cross  section  of  social 

forces  acting  on  the  immigrant     .  4 

CHAPTER  II.     Migration  and  Distribution  .  6 

1.  First  migrations  to  Alaska  and  Cali 

fornia    6 

2.  A  slow  aggregation 8 

3.  Estimated  numbers  in  America   .      .  10 

4.  Distribution II 

5.  Migration  within  the  United  States  13 

6.  Summary 15 

CHAPTER  III.     Environing  Economic  Forces  16 

1.  Means  of  livelihood 16 

2.  Conditions  of  labor 19 

3.  The  employer       ......  22 

4.  Accidents 27 

5.  The  boss 30 

6.  The  labor  union 36 

7.  Wages 42 

8.  Banks 47 

9.  Conditions  on  the  farm  ....  51 
10.      Conclusion 54 

xiii 


xiv  Contents 

PAGX 

CHAPTER  IV.     The    Russian   in   his   Home 

Environment 56 

1.  Isolation 56 

2.  Housing 57 

3.  Factors  relating  to  health      ...  66 

4.  Single  Russians 77 

5.  Married  Russians 80 

6.  The  second  generation    ....  83 

7.  Recreation 84 

8.  Conclusion 89 

CHAPTER  V.     Organized  Social  Forces:  Re 
ligious  and  Educational      ....  91 

1.  The  Russian  Greek  Orthodox  Church  91 

2.  The  Protestant  Church    .      .      .      .  103 

3.  American  public  and  private  agencies  105 

4.  Russian  non-political  organizations   .  1 1 1 

5.  Russian  political  organizations    .      .  114 

6.  The  Russian  press 123 

7.  Summary 142 

CHAPTER  VI.     The    Russian's    Relation    to 

our  Government 144 

1.  Legislation 144 

2.  Agencies  of  law  and  order:  the  police  157 

3.  The  Courts 159 

4.  Federal  agents 161 

5.  The  effect  of  the  Russian  revolution  172 

6.  Conclusion 174 

CHAPTER  VII.     Conclusion  .      .      .      .      .  176 

1.  America's  contribution  to  the  Russian  176 

2.  Isolation  and  unlikeness  of  foreign- 

born  Russians 178 

3.  Need  of  increasing  the  likeness  be 

tween  the   Russian   and  American 

mind 184 


Contents  xv 

PACK 

4.     Possible    methods    of    securing    like- 

mindedness 188 

APPENDIX.     The  Social  Impress  of  an  Au 
tocracy   197 

1.  A  peasant  immigration    .      .      .      .197 

2.  Land  holdings 198 

3.  Agricultural  backwardness     .      .      .198 

4.  Conditions  in  industry     .      .      .      .199 

5.  The   peasant's    attitude    toward    the 

land 200 

6.  The  cooperative  movement   .      .      .  200 

7.  Health 201 

8.  The  family 202 

9.  Recreational  life 203 

10.  Religion 204 

11.  Education 204 

12.  Relation  to  the  government  .      .      .  205 

13.  Summary  of  environmental  conditions  208 

14.  Obstacles  to  immigration       .      .      .  209 

15.  Characteristics  of  the  Russian     .      .  211 

BIBLIOGRAPHY.     The  Russians  in  America  .     215 


THE  RUSSIAN  IMMIGRANT 

CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION:  THE  RUSSIAN  PROBLEM 

NEVER  before  in  history  has  a  democratic 
nation  attempted  to  assimilate  such  a  large  and  con 
stantly  inflowing  stream  of  foreigners  as  has  the 
United  States.  In  consequence,  we  have  become  a 
heterogeneous  nation  of  mixed  races.  The  thir 
teenth  census  tells  us  that  two-fifths  of  our  popula 
tion  are  foreign-born.  During  the  war  it  was  found 
that  twenty-four  and  nine-tenths  per  cent  of  the  men 
in  the  draft  camps  were  illiterate.1  Unless  we  can 
strengthen  likemindedness  and  a  sense  of  national 
solidarity  this  situation  is  pregnant  with  danger.2 
Following  the  war  the  immigration  problem  has 
again  forced  itself  on  public  attention.  Congress 
has  for  the  first  time  enacted  a  measure  which 
restricts  incoming  immigrants  to  a  percentage  of  the 
number  of  the  nationals  3  of  each  country  residing 
here.  This  effectively  stops  the  flood  of  foreigners 

1  U.   S.  Bureau   of   Education,   Report   of  the  Commissioner  of 
Education   (1919),  p.  44. 

2  Cf.  Giddings,  Inductive  Sociology  (N.  Y.,  1901),  pp.  227-8,  "The 
Laws  of  Liberty." 

3  Nationals    here   means    all   persons   of   foreign   birth   whether 
naturalized  or  not. 


The  Rmrian  Immigrant 

who  desire  to  escape  the  hardships  resulting  from 
the  World  War  but  affords  scant  aid  to  the  millions 
now  in  the  United  States.  Up  to  Jan.  i,  1922, 
Congress  had  not  yet  taken  any  action  whatsoever, 
on  any  of  the  bills  for  the  promotion  of  Americani 
zation.4  Within  the  vast  aggregation  of  foreigners 
already  here,  each  racial  group  presents  its  own 
problems.  Among  others,  those  who  came  from  the 
old  empire  of  the  Russian  Tsars  have  attracted 
particular  attention  as  including  within  their  ranks 
dangerous  alien  agitators  and  Bolshevik  agents. 

Early  in  1920  the  Department  of  Justice  took  oc 
casion  to  warn  the  country  of  the  "red  menace,"  and 
even  sent  to  the  newspapers,  at  its  own  expense, 
plates  ready  for  printing  with  the  following  head 
lines:5  uWarns  Nation  of  the  Red  Peril— U.  S. 
Department  of  Justice  Urges  Americans  to  Guard 
Against  Bolshevism  Menace."  We  have  only  to 
recall  the  series  of  raids  instigated  by  state  and  na 
tional  authorities  during  1919  and  1920  to  appre 
ciate  the  situation.  In  New  York  State  the  Lusk 
Committee  instituted  a  vigorous  search  for  "red" 
aliens,  while  in  the  nation  at  large  the  Department 
of  Justice  conducted  raids  in  which  over  five  thou 
sand  were  arrested.  It  now  has  cards  of  two  hun 
dred  thousand  ultra-radical  individuals  and  organ- 

4  Letter  to  the  author  from  the  Chief  Clerk  of  the  U.  S.  Bureau 
of  Education. 

5  Dean   Pound   of  the   Harvard   Law    School    and    eleven   other 
prominent  lawyers,  Report  Upon  the  Illegal  Practices  of  the  United 
States  Department  of  Justice  (Washington,  1920),  p.  67. 


The  Russian  Problem  3 

izations  in  the  United  States.6  According  to  the 
report  of  the  Attorney  General,  fully  ninety  per  cent 
of  those  considered  the  most  dangerous  are  aliens.7 
Since  the  chief  targets  of  these  activities  were  those 
from  the  Russian  Empire  and  over  ninety  per  cent 
of  those  deported  were  sent  to  Russia,  it  is  especially 
important  that  we  know  and  understand  the  Russian 
Slav  in  America. 

It  is  true  that  since  many  Russians  are  now  vol 
untarily  leaving  our  country,  the  problem  might 
seem  to  be  simplified;  in  reality  it  thus  becomes  more 
complex.  For  two  and  one-half  years  the  writer 
was  in  intimate  \contact  with  soldiers  and  peas 
ants  in  many  parts  of  Russia;  and  he  found  it  diffi 
cult  to  find  a  peasant  or  soldier  who  had  been  in 
America  and  was  still  friendly  to  us.  Instead,  they 
cursed  us  as  a  nation  of  money-getters  and  selfish 
capitalists.  The  thousands  of  disappointed  and  em 
bittered  Russians  who  have  already  left  our  shores 
are  doubtless  now  acting  in  many  cases  as  agents 
of  hatred,  as  they  go  through  city,  town,  and  village ; 
they  serve  to  spread  the  gospel  of  enmity  towards 
America,  and  prejudice  large  numbers  of  the  people 
against  our  nation.8  From  the  merely  selfish  stand 
point  of  international  trade,  this  will  prove  costly; 
from  the  standpoint  of  international  peace  and  mu 
tual  understanding  it  is  most  deplorable.  The  activ- 

6  Report  of  the  Attorney   General   of  the   United  States,  1920, 
p.  173. 

7  Ibid.,  p.  177. 

8  Professor   Petrunkevich    of   Yale   has   noted    this    danger.     Cf. 
Standard,  Feb.,  1920,  p.  175. 


4  The  Russian  Immigrant 

ity  of  the  American  Relief  Administration  and  the 
appropriation  of  twenty  millions  by  Congress  in 
December,  1921,  for  the  work  of  that  organization 
in  Russia  is  helping  to  counteract  this;  nevertheless 
the  attitude  of  the  multitude  of  Russians  who  have 
been  and  are  now  in  America,  may  in  the  long  run 
count  for  more. 

Besides  these  motives  there  is  yet  a  stronger  rea 
son  for  centering  our  attention  on  the  Russian  Slav. 
No  books  in  the  English  language  and  but  meager 
material  describing  this  one  nationality  in  America 
are  available.9  Most  writers  have  attempted  to 
analyze  conditions  as  they  affect  the  Russians  as  a 
part  of  a  general  consideration  of  the  immigrant 
races,  sometimes  reviewing  but  one  phase  of  the 
problem  such  as  health.10  In  the  present  study  in 
stead  of  cutting  across  many  racial  lines  we  shall 
hope  to  get  a  cross  section,  as  it  were,  of  the  out 
standing  social  forces  acting  on  the  one  racial  group, 
the  Russian.  To  some  extent,  however,  the  experi 
ence  of  the  Russian  Slav  is  the  experience  of  all  the 
races  from  southeastern  Europe.  Since  1882,  the 
aliens  from  southeastern  Europe,  frequently  termed 
the  unew  immigration,"  have  been  growing  numeri 
cally  over  those  from  northwestern  Europe  in  an 
ever-increasing  ratio.  A  study  of  the  Russian 
problem,  therefore,  will  have  a  value  for  the  larger 
Slavic  group  as  well. 

9  Cf.  footnote,  Preface,  p.  viii. 

10  See  the  volumes  of  the  Americanization  Studies  of  the  Carnegie 
Foundation. 


The  Russian  Problem  5 

Further,  a  study  of  one  foreign  race  among  us  is 
also  in  some  part  a  study  of  American  civilization. 
It  will  obviously  be  fragmentary  and  without  unity; 
but  sidelights  and  a  flash  here  and  there  may  dis 
close  parts  of  actual  structure  that  need  to  be  known. 
These  alien  races  form  the  human  sub-structure  of 
many  of  our  industries.  Our  treatment  of  them  is 
one  test  of  the  social  institutions  of  our  democracy. 
Do  we  avail  ourselves  of  the  highest  scientific  knowl 
edge  in  our  treatment  of  potential  citizens  ?  Are  the 
trained  psychologists,  sociologists,  and  educators, 
behind  our  policies  and  methods?  In  a  democracy, 
the  problem  of  the  potential  citizen  must  be  a  major 
one.  If  we  find  that  intelligent  and  trained  opinion 
is  not  being  used  in  treating  one  problem,  it  occasions 
the  query,  Are  we  using  more  rational  methods  in 
other  fields?  Furthermore,  it  is  interesting  to  raise 
the  question  as  to  how  justly  in  the  eyes  of  a  new 
group  of  the  foreign-born,  our  democratic  institu 
tions  are  functioning. 

Sociology  maintains  that  if  the  social  point  of 
view  which  the  foreigner  brings  with  him,  and  the 
social  forces  which  are  to  act  upon  him  are  known, 
the  attitude  which  the  majority  of  his  nationality 
will  take  toward  the  foreign  country  to  which  they 
come  can  be  predicted.  Even  a  partial  description 
of  these  forces  will  help  to  explain  the  resulting 
attitude  of  the  Russian.11 

11  The  author  strongly  urges  that  the  section  on  "The  Social  Im 
press  of  an  Autocracy"  in  the  Appendix  be  read  at  this  point  be 
fore  taking  up  Chapter  II. 


CHAPTER  II 

MIGRATION  AND  DISTRIBUTION 

First  Migrations  to  Alaska  and  California 

THE  beginnings  of  Russian  migration  to  America 
read  like  a  romance.  Over  twenty-five  years  before 
the  United  States  declared  her  independence,  as 
early  as  1747,  Russian  colonists,  searching  for  a  bet 
ter  climate  and  a  more  fertile  soil  than  Siberia  af 
forded,  embarked  in  rude  boats  built  of  green  lum 
ber  and  manned  by  Russian  convicts.1  Many  of  them 
went  safely  across  Bering  Sea,  along  the  coast  of 
Alaska  and  made  their  first  center  at  Kodiak  Island. 
A  profitable  fur  trade  with  the  Alaskan  natives  de 
veloped,  and  some  of  the  latter  were  won  over  to 
the  Russian  Orthodox  faith.  In  1792  the  Holy 
Synod  sent  out  a  special  mission  of  monks  to  minister 
to  the  colonists  and  their  converts,  and  the  first 
Orthodox  Church  was  built  in  America.  It  proved 
successful  and  thousands  of  natives  were  baptized. 
From  that  time  on  until  the  transfer  of  Alaska  to 
the  United  States,  the  number  of  Russians  steadily 
increased. 

They  pushed  out  in  all  directions.    Some  went  on 

1  Cf.  Semple,  E.  C.,  Influences  of  Geographic  Environment  (N.  Y.. 
1911),  p.  29. 


Migration  and  Distribution  7 

to  Baronoff  Island;  by  1812  they  had  explored  the 
California  coast,  and  decided  to  locate  in  the  red 
wood  belt  of  Sonoma  County.  The  tract  of  timber 
was  the  deciding  factor  in  the  location;  with  it  they 
fenced  their  farms,  built  their  homes  and  even  estab 
lished  a  ship-building  plant.  They  constructed  the 
first  ocean-going  vessel  launched  on  this  side  of  the 
Pacific.  For  thirty  years  they  grew  and  prospered. 
They  had  their  cultivated  farms,  their  herds,  their 
schools  and  churches. 

Unexpectedly  one  day  a  ship  arrived  from  Russia ; 
in  a  few  minutes  the  cannon  on  the  cliff  were  boom 
ing  and  the  bell  in  the  Greek  Church  was  ringing, 
calling  the  Russians  to  assemble.  Owing  to  trouble 
with  Spain,  the  Tsar's  regime  had  ordered  the  col 
onists  to  return  at  once.  Still  believing,  as  they  did, 
in  the  Tsar,  there  was  only  one  thing  for  them  to  do. 
Sorrowfully  they  abandoned  all  the  accumulations 
of  their  toil,  and  embarked  for  home.  The  red 
wood  buildings  still  stand  as  monuments  to  their  ad 
venturous  achievement.2 

Later  on,  after  the  sale  of  Alaska  in  1867,  many 
more  of  the  Russians  returned  home,  while  others 
went  to  California.  As  a  result  of  their  influence, 
the  headquarters  of  the  Russian  Church  in  America 
was  removed  to  San  Francisco  in  1872.  Since  that 
time,  California  has  always  contained  an  important 
Russian  colony. 

2  Gregory,  T.,  Sonoma  County,  California,  pp.  18-28 ;  Bancroft, 
History  of  California,  vol.  i,  pp.  298,  628-635;  vol.  2,  chaps,  xiv, 
xxviii. 


8  The  Russian  Immigrant 

A  Slow  Aggregation 

It  was  not  until  1872  that  from  the  entire  Russian 
empire,  exclusive  of  Poland,  as  many  as  one  thousand 
immigrants  entered  the  United  States  in  any  one 
year.3  By  1882  the  number  had  increased  to  16,918 
and  in  1892  reached  its  high  water-mark  for  any  year 
in  the  nineteenth  century,  with  81,511  immigrants. 
These  figures,  however,  are  of  little  value  as  an  indi 
cation  of  the  actual  number  of  Russian  Slavs  who 
came  to  America.  The  records  of  the  census  are  not 
sufficiently  detailed.  Until  1899,  with  the  exception 
of  Poland,  all  who  came  from  territory  controlled 
by  the  Tsar's  government  were  classified  as  Rus 
sians.  The  statistics  of  those  entering  from  1899  to 
1910  show  that  the  predominating  element  from  the 
Empire,  or  43.8  per  cent,  were  Jews;  next  came  the 
Poles  with  27.0  per  cent,  while  the  Russians  com 
prised  only  4.4  per  cent,  the  remainder  being  scat 
tered  among  various  other  nationalities.4  It  seems 
probable,  therefore,  that  up  to  1899  the  number  of 
Russian  Slavs  was  insignificant.  From  Russia  the 
Jews  were  the  chief  settlers  in  America  and  their 
enthusiastic  reports  stimulated  the  Russians  them 
selves  to  make  the  venture. 

From  the  year  1899,  however,  there  was  almost  a 
steady  increase  in  the  number  of  Russian  immigrants 
until  in  the  year  1913  alone  there  entered  a  total  of 

3  Reports  of  the  Immigration  Commission  (1911),  vol.  3,  table  9, 
p.  14. 
*  Ibid.,  vol.  3,  p.  52. 


Migration  and  Distribution  9 

51,472.  In  1914,  the  war  stopped  further  immi 
gration  from  Russia  and  to-day  a  revolutionary  Bol 
shevik  power  prohibits  emigration,  so  that  from 
1914  on,  America  has  been,  if  anything,  losing  Rus 
sians  through  emigration  instead  of  gaining  them. 

Estimated  Numbers  in  America 

There  were  in  the  United  States  in  1910,  accord 
ing  to  the  census,  57,926  foreign-born  Russians;  but 
13,781  were  Russians  from  Austria  and  1,400  were 
from  Hungary.  On  the  other  hand,  3,402  persons 
were  counted  as  Ruthenians  who  came  out  of  Rus 
sia.  In  all,  therefore,  probably  about  46,147  for 
eign-born  Russians  were  to  be  found  in  the  United 
States  in  19 io.5  In  addition,  the  same  census  re 
cords  37,211  Russians  of  foreign  or  mixed  parent 
age  born  in  this  country.  From  July  i,  1910,  to 
June  30,  1919,  there  has  been  a  net  increase  of 
76,595  Russians  over  those  departing.6  This  would 
make  a  total  now  in  the  United  States  of  159,953; 
but  we  have  not  included  the  surplus  of  births  over 
deaths  among  the  Russians  here.  Yet  the  1920 
Census  records  392,049  foreign-born  Russians  in  the 

5  In  considering  these  figures  it  should  be  remembered  that  our 
census  listed  as  Russians  all  those  who  called  Russian  their  native 
language.    But  since  the  last  Russian  census,  in  1897,  records  the  fact 
that  two  per  cent  of  the  entire  European  population  were  Jews  who 
would    fall    within    this    class,    and    since    the    great    majority   of 
emigrants  to  America  from  Russia  were  Jews,  undoubtedly  much 
more  than   two   per   cent  were   so   included    in   our   census.     Cf. 
Thirteenth  Census,  Population,  vol.  i,  table  3,  p.  963. 

6  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Immigration,  Annual  Report  of  the  Commis 
sioner-General  of  Immigration. 


io  The  Russian  Immigrant 

United  States  and  including  those  born  in  America 
of  Russian  parentage,  a  total  of  731,949.  Those 
familiar  with  the  methods  of  census  enumeration 
know  that  this  number  is  open  to  a  large  possible 
error.  Different  authorities  make  widely  varying 
estimates.  The  Inter-Racial  Council  and  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  Central  Executive  Committee  of  the  Fed 
eration  of  Russian  Organizations  in  the  United 
States,  Professor  Alexander  Petrunkevich  of  Yale, 
estimate  that  in  1920  there  were  at  least  400,000 
Russians  here,7  while  Dr.  Hourwich,  a  well-known 
writer  on  immigration,  places  the  number  below 
300, ooo.8  The  figure  given  by  the  Secretary  to  the 
Russian  Consul  General  in  the  same  year  was  ap 
proximately  half  a  million,  while  that  of  the  head  of 
the  Russian  department  of  the  American  Red  Cross 
is  as  high  as  600,000.  Although  these  conjectures 
are  of  uncertain  value,  the  official  census  figures 
would  seem  to  justify  accepting  the  number  as  about 
700,000,  although  this  is  an  increase  of  700  per  cent 
since  1910. 

Distribution 

When  the  Russian  first  lands  in  America,  he  is 
practically  in  poverty.  From  1910  to  1914  inclu 
sive,  out  of  155,002  only  8,332,  or  5.3  per  cent,  had 
over  fifty  dollars.9  Almost  penniless,  his  first  task 

7  The  Standard,  February,  1920,  p.  176. 

8  Estimate  given  in  an  interview  with  the  writer. 

9  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Immigration,  Annual  Report  of  the  Commis 
sioner-General  of  Immigration,  table  7,  pp.  20-21,  1910;  pp.  20-21, 
1911;  pp.  74-75,  1912;  pp.  46-47,  1913;  pp.  42-43,  1914. 


Migration  and  Distribution 


II 


is  to  find  employment.  His  destination  is  usually 
determined  by  one  or  both  of  two  factors,  the  de 
mand  for  hard  labor  in  factory  and  mine,  and  the 
location  of  other  Russian  groups. 

The  following  table  is  only  indicative  of  the  dis 
tribution  of  the  Russians  in  the  United  States  to-day: 


State 


The  Number  of 
Russians  in  the 
Chief  States  Ac 
cording  to  the  Cen 
sus  of  1910  in  the 

Order  of  Their 
Importance 

Order      Number 


The  Intended  Fu 
ture  Residence  of 
the  Russians  Ad- 
mitted  to  the 
United  States  From 
1910  to  1919  10 

Order       Number 


New    York i  34,612  i  50,189 

Pennsylvania    2  24,558  2  27,401 

Illinois    3  4,036  4  15,199 

New  Jersey 4  4,031  6  7,861 

Ohio   5  3,871  8  4,384 

Connecticut  6  3,013  7  7,328 

Massachusetts  7  2,674  3  '6,372 

North  Dakota 8  ,886  20  920 

Maryland    9  ,875  9  4,146 

California   10  ,828  u  2,997 

Minnesota  u  ,517  13  2,453 

Michigan 12  ,274  5  8,378 

Missouri    13  ,104  17  1,119 

Wisconsin 14  956  15  2,029 

Washington    15  666  10  3,222 

Colorado   16  546  27  490 

Iowa 17  511  21  899 

Indiana    18  504  16  1,420 

West  Virginia 21  376  14  2,040 

New   Hampshire 29  251  12  2,490 

Others    5,048  9,738 

Total 95,137  171,075 

According  to  the  distribution  in  1910,  we  find  that 
of  the  total,  95,137,  New  York  had  over  34,000, 

10  Compiled    from    the    Annual    Reports    of    the    Commissioner- 
General  of  Immigration. 


12  The  Russian  Immigrant 

or  36.5  per  cent,  Pennsylvania  over  24,000  or  25.2 
per  cent,  while  New  Jersey  and  Illinois  had  only 
about  4,000  each  and  Ohio  just  over  3,800.  Accord 
ing  to  the  1910  Census,  five-eighths  of  all  the  Rus 
sians  were  in  New  York  and  Pennsylvania. 

Once  a  substantial  number  of  Russians  have  ar 
rived  in  America  and  found  work,  we  might  expect 
that  others  as  they  come  would  seek  to  join  them. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  find  that  those  arriving 
since  the  1910  Census  have  done  this  only  in  part. 
At  least  the  table  showing  the  list  of  the  states  in 
the  order  of  intended  future  residence  of  those  en 
tering  from  1910  until  1919,  does  not  follow  ex 
actly  the  order  of  the  distribution  by  states  as  shown 
by  the  Census  of  I9IO.11  Massachusetts  occupies 
the  seventh  instead  of  the  third  place,  displacing 
Illinois.  Michigan  is  in  the  fifth  instead  of  the 
twelfth  place,  displacing  Ohio,  Connecticut,  and 
New  Jersey;  New  Hampshire  appears  in  the  twelfth 
place  instead  of  the  twenty-ninth,  while  North  Da 
kota  falls  from  eighth  to  twentieth.  These  differ 
ences  seem  to  reflect  changes  in  our  industrial  order 
and  a  shifting  of  nationalities  in  certain  industries. 
Massachusetts  is  now  using  large  numbers  of  Rus 
sians  in  her  textile  industries  which  have  expanded 
rapidly  since  1910.  Michigan  has  developed  huge 

11  It  must  be  remembered  that  this  is  not  necessarily  conclusive 
evidence.  Each  table  is  based  on  different  data,  one  representing 
where  the  Russians  actually  were  in  1910,  the  other  where,  since 
that  date,  the  Russians  declared  they  were  going  to  live  after  their 
entry  into  the  United  States. 


Migration  and  Distribution  13 

automobile  plants,  while  New  Hampshire  now  uses 
large  numbers  of  Russians  in  her  paper  mills.  As 
for  North  Dakota,  she  has  little  more  available 
good  land  for  homesteading  and,  in  any  case,  a  large 
amount  of  capital  is  needed  to  develop  it  success 
fully. 

No  doubt  the  war  played  its  part  in  shifting  the 
Russians  to  the  munition  and  shipbuilding  centers. 
New  England  now  has  a  larger  number  of  Russians 
than  it  had  in  1910.  The  Inter-Racial  Council  esti 
mated  in  1920  the  approximate  numbers  of  Russians 
in  the  more  important  states  as  follows:  uNew 
York,  60,000;  Illinois,  50,000;  Massachusetts,  40,- 
ooo;  Pennsylvania,  35,000;  Ohio,  45,000;  Michi 
gan,  30,000;  New  Jersey,  35,000;  Connecticut,  20,- 
ooo.  According  to  the  same  source  the  largest  Rus 
sian  colonies  are  to  be  found  in  the  following  cities : 
New  York,  25,000;  Detroit,  17,000;  Chicago,  20,- 
ooo;  San  Francisco,  15,000;  Pittsburgh,  14,000; 
Philadelphia,  12,000;  Newark,  10,000;  Jersey  City, 
8,000;  Cleveland,  5,000;  St.  Louis,  5,000."  12 

Migration  Within  the  United  States 

Within  the  United  States,  the  Russian  family 
groups  do  not  move  often.  After  talking  with  over 
one  hundred  families  scattered  in  the  various  cities 
visited,  the  writer  found  that  eighty-five  per  cent 
of  them,  irrespective  of  the  length  of  their  stay  in 

12Vilchur,  M.,   The  Russians  in  America    (N.  Y.,   1918),  gives 
approximately  the  same  figures,  pp.  60-61. 


14  The  Russian  Immigrant 

the  United  States,  had  not  made  more  than  one 
change  from  city  to  city,  if  they  had  moved  at  all. 
This  is,  of  course,  not  a  large  enough  statistical 
sample  to  be  conclusive,  but  it  seems  probable,  once 
a  family  is  settled,  takes  in  boarders,  rents  a  house 
or  apartment,  that  it  would  find  moving  difficult,  and 
the  testimony  of  the  Russian  priests  to  the  author 
was  one  further  confirmatory  evidence.  It  is  chiefly 
during  strike  conditions,  general  unemployment,  or 
unusual  opportunities  to  secure  better  work,  that  the 
Russian  family  moves.  If  the  man  hears  of  better 
work  elsewhere,  he  will  sometimes  go  alone  to  test 
it  out,  sending  for  the  family  if  everything  proves 
satisfactory. 

Russians  without  families  in  this  country  move 
somewhat  more  frequently.  Some  of  them  have 
been  in  as  many  as  eight  different  states  in  five  years, 
but  this  is  unusual.  In  seventy-eight  cases  of  Rus 
sian  political  prisoners  in  Detroit  who  came  to  the 
United  States  within  the  last  fourteen  years,13  the 
following  facts  are  significant:  twelve  out  of  the 
78  or  15  per  cent  had  remained  in  the  same  place 
since  coming  to  America,  the  average  number  of 
changes  in  residence  was  2.2  times  in  7  years.14 
These  facts  seem  to  indicate  that  even  the  single  Rus 
sians  do  not  move  often.  These  men  may  not  have 
been  typical  of  the  average  Russian,  but  it  would 
appear  that  those  who  have  been  arrested  or  who 

13  Only  two  of  these  had  wives  in  this  country. 

14  From  a  personal  investigation  made  by  the  author. 


Migration  and  Distribution  15 

have  grown  dissatisfied  through  failure  to  become 
adjusted  to  America,  would  move  more  frequently 
than  those  who  have  become  so  adjusted. 

Summary 

The  aggregation  of  Russians  in  the  United  States 
has  conformed  to  a  law  both  of  physics  and  of  so 
ciology:  it  has  followed  the  line  of  least  resistance. 
The  mass  of  Russians  have  taken  the  first  positions 
that  were  available  and  this  has  concentrated  them 
in  urban  communities.  According  to  the  United 
States  Census,  87  per  cent  of  all  the  foreign-born 
from  the  Russian  empire  exclusive  of  Finland  lived 
there  in  19 io.15  Because  they  have  been  played 
upon  in  like  ways  by  similar  forces  they  have  become 
segregated  in  colonies  and  industrial  centers.  The 
various  social  and  economic  forces  in  Russia  and 
America  have  acted  on  them  to  place  them  where 
they  were  just  as  truly  as  have  the  giant  glaciers 
acted  on  certain  boulders  and  rocks  to  leave  them 
in  the  valleys.  In  the  succeeding  chapters  we  shall 
attempt  to  trace  other  forces  which  are  molding  the 
attitude  of  these  newcomers  towards  our  people 
and  our  country. 

18  Thirteenth  Census,  Population,  vol.  i,  table  22,  p.  818. 


CHAPTER  III 

ENVIRONING   ECONOMIC   FORCES 

WE  have  seen  that  the  economic  and  social  con 
ditions  of  the  Russian  newcomers  force  them  to  ac 
cept  almost  any  opening  in  the  labor  market.  We 
shall  now  attempt  to  analyze  some  of  the  definite 
stimuli  which  affect  them  in  their  new  and  strange 
economic  world. 

Means  of  Livelihood 

The  Russian  born  are  chiefly  to  be  found  among 
the  lowest  types  of  manual  laborers  in  the  mines  and 
factories  of  America.  Definite  statistics  as  to  what 
proportions  are  engaged  in  the  various  occupations 
at  the  present  time  are  not  obtainable.  The  United 
States  Immigration  Commission  made  a  study  in 
1909  of  507,256  wage-earners  in  mines  and  manu 
facturing  establishments  of  America  and  found  that 
of  these,  1.6  per  cent  of  the  male  and  .9  per  cent 
of  the  female  foreign-born  workers  were  Russian. 
To  be  more  exact,  there  were  6,588  male  and  914 
female  foreign-born  Russian  workers  and  1,299 
male  and  1,305  female  native-born  workers  of  Rus 
sian  parents  constituting  in  all  1.5  percent  of  the 
total  number  of  wage-earners  investigated.  Most 


Environing  Economic  Forces  17 

of  the  foreign-born  were  found  in  coal  mining  and  in 
the  iron  and  steel  industries.  This  fact  has  been 
confirmed  by  other  studies.1  A  ranking  of  the  in 
dustries  according  to  the  number  found  employed 
in  them  made  by  the  Immigration  Commission 
follows : 

Russian  Parentage 
Born  in  Russia      Born  in  U.  S. 

Coal  Mining J>853  J7^ 

Iron  and  Steel 1,372  *5O 

Slaughtering,  Meat  Packing 1,010  324 

Clothing   536  555 

Wool  and  Worsted  Goods 527  52 

Cotton  Goods 471  87 

Sugar    Refining 372  21 

Agricultural    Implements 307  250 

Cigars  and  Tobacco 220  180 

Leather  207  106 

Glass 147  84 

Boots  and  Shoes 123  64 

Oil    Refining 103  14 

Construction  Work 103  2 

Silk  Goods 70  489 

Iron,  Ore  Mining 24  6 

Collars,  Cuffs  and  Shirts 22  4 

Furniture    18  21 

Copper  Mining,  Smelting 6  17 

Silk    Dyeing 5  o 

These  statistics  record  over  three  times  as  many 
foreign  as  native  born.  They  seem  to  indicate  that 
the  second  generation  Russian  leaves  the  harder 
lines  of  work  and  shifts  into  the  easier.  For  ex 
ample,  in  coal  mining  there  was  the  proportion  of 
10  foreign  to  one  native-born  of  Russian  parents, 
in  iron  and  steel  9  to  i,  and  in  sugar  refining  about 

1  Vilchur,  M.,   The  Russians  in  America,  op.  cit.,  p.  62;  Balch, 
E.  G.,  Our  Slavic  Fellow  Citizens  (N.  Y.,  1910),  p.  282. 


1 8  The  Russian  Immigrant 

1 8  to  i.  Yet  in  agricultural  implements,  leather, 
glass,  boots  and  shoes,  and  tobacco  there  are  over 
half  as  many  native  of  Russian  parents  as  foreign- 
born;  in  clothing  there  are  more  of  the  second  gen 
eration,  while  in  silk  goods  there  are  seven  times 
as  many.2 

Another  investigation  conducted  by  the  U.  S.  Im 
migration  Commission  in  1909  among  80,000  em 
ployees  on  the  Pacific  Coast  and  in  the  Rocky  Moun 
tain  States  showed  that  the  greatest  number  of  Rus 
sians  were  in  the  following  industries,  in  the  order 
of  their  importance : 3  i,  steam  railway;  2,  coal  min 
ing;  3,  lumber;  4,  beet  sugar  manufacturing;  5,  can 
neries;  6,  glass;  7,  smelting;  8,  cement;  9,  electric 
railways.  It  will  be  noticed  that  these  are  all  indus 
tries  in  which  large  numbers  of  unskilled  workers 
are  employed.  The  Russians  take  the  job  at  the 
bottom  of  the  ladder;  they  have  the  roughest  and 
hardest  tasks;  as  they  express  it  in  their  native  lan 
guage,  they  do  the  "black  work."  This  is  doubtless 
inevitable  since  they  are  illiterate,  penniless,  and 
speak  a  foreign  language,  but  it  is  unfortunate  that 
the  conditions  in  the  industries  employing  these 
marginal  workers  should  be  as  unfavorable  as 
they  are. 

2  It  should  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Russian  immigration  is 
new,   and    that  these   industries   may   use   more   children  than  the 
others. 

3  Abstracts   of  Reports   of  the  Immigration   Commission,  vol.   i, 
table  3,  p.  627. 


Environing  Economic  Forces  19 

Conditions  of  Labor 

We  have  seen  that  the  greatest  number  of  Rus 
sians  are  found  in  coal  mining  and  the  iron  and  steel 
industry.  Let  us  examine  briefly  the  conditions  un 
der  which  they  labor.  Judge  Gary  has  admitted 
that  69,000  men  have  been  working  the  twelve-hour 
day  (that  is  from  eleven  to  fourteen  hours)  for  the 
U.  S.  Steel  Corporation.4  The  author's  investiga 
tion  as  well  as  that  of  others  including  the  Inter- 
Church  and  the  Pittsburgh  Survey,  has  found  that 
most  of  the  Russians  are  in  the  class  that  has  been 
working  in  this  way;  they  are  subjected  not  only  to 
the  twelve-hour  shift  but  the  seven-day  week.5 
About  every  fortnight  they  have  been  forced  to 
work  an  eighteen-  or  twenty-four-hour  day,  when 
the  turn  from  a  night  to  a  day  shift  occurred.  uln 
some  plants  the  thirty-six-hour  turn  is  still  not  un 
known."  What  this  means  in  the  actual  life  of  the 
employee  can  be  realized  by  the  testimony  of  one 
of  them.  "Time  on  the  job,  91  hours;  eating, 
about  9;  street  car  (45  minutes  each  way),  10.5; 
sleep  (7^2  hours  a  day),  52.5;  dressing,  undress 
ing,  washing,  and  so  forth,  5;  that  totals  168  or 
every  single  hour  in  the  week,  and  it's  how  I  slave." 
This  is  not  a  rare  occurrence  for  those  who  live  a 


4  U.  S.  Senate  Committee  on  Education  and  Labor,  Investigation 
of  Strike  in  Steel  Industries  (1919),  vol.  i,  p.  157. 

5  Inter-Church  World  Movement  Report  on  the  Steel  Strike  of 
1919  (N.  Y.,  1920),  pp.  44-84. 

6  Ibid.,  p.  47. 


2O  The  Russian  Immigrant 

considerable  distance  from  their  work,  and  is  bit 
terly  resented.  As  another  Slavic  worker  expressed 
it,  "Wor'rk,  wor'rk  always  every  day,  every  week, 
ten  hours  days  and  twelve  hours  nights — alia  time — 

no    spell — and    alia    time    every    d furnace 

hongry."  7  The  twelve-hour  day  does  violence  to 
the  Russian's  play  instinct  just  as  truly  as  to  that  of 
an  American,  although  each  might  find  expression 
for  it  in  a  different  manner.  Furthermore,  as  the 
Inter-Church  report  says,  "The  twelve-hour  day 
makes  any  attempt  at  'Americanization'  or  other 
civic  or  individual  development  for  one-half  of  all 
immigrant  steel  workers  arithmetically  impossible." 
(p.  12). 

It  is  not  the  long  hours  alone  which  arouse  re 
sentment,  but  the  fact  that  in  contrast  to  former 
work  in  the  fields,  the  present  tasks  are  hazardous, 
unhealthful  and  unpleasant.  To  those  who  have 
been  through  a  large  steel  mill  at  night  a  description 
is  unnecessary.  For  those  who  have  not,  let  me 
quote  from  an  officer  of  a  steel  company  who  him 
self  went  into  the  steel  mills  and  worked  as  a  com 
mon  laborer  for  several  months  during  1919  :  "Then 
when  the  white-hot  steel  is  roaring  and  blazing  into 
the  huge  ladle — he  must  lift  large  paper  sacks  of 
coal  to  his  shoulder,  run  towards  the  ladle  and  with 
all  his  strength  hurl  them  into  the  blazing,  scorch 
ing  torrent.  Thereupon  the  flames,  fed  by  the 

7  Williams,  W.,   What's  on  the  Worker's  Mind    (N.  Y.,   1920), 
p.  25. 


Environing  Economic  Forces  21 

carbon,  leap  to  the  roof  and  the  heat  is  fearful."  8 
Or  again  the  same  observer  remarked  that  he  could 
not  have  stayed  ten  minutes  in  the  checker  cham 
ber  :  the  temperature  was  so  high  that  scientists 
could  prove  it  was  impossible  to  maintain  life  there 
(sic).  Yet  the  foreigners  endure  it  for  half-hour 
periods  at  a  time,  taking  out  brick.9  The  reaction 
of  a  Russian  to  these  tasks,  while  not  so  violent  as 
that  of  an  American,  nevertheless  is  distinct.  Even 
when  the  tasks  are  not  so  hazardous  as  the  ones 
mentioned,  they  are  likely  to  be  grindingly  monoto 
nous  and  are  carried  on  at  a  higher  speed  and  more 
continuously  than  anything  the  Russian  has  before 
known. 

In  the  mines  the  hours  are  shorter,  but  the 
lack  of  light  and  air  and  the  constant  stooping  posi 
tion  (depending  on  the  mine  worked)  is  just  as 
strange.  Furthermore,  the  Russian  claims  that  he 
is  assigned  the  worst  seams  where  the  work  is  hard 
est  and  the  proportion  of  slag  is  greatest.  In  gen 
eral,  the  conditions  of  labor  in  the  mines  have  been 
found  better  than  in  steel.10  Nevertheless,  many 
Russians,  owing  to  the  irregularity  of  the  employ 
ment  and  the  underground  work,  prefer  the  steel 
industry.11 

8  ibid.,  p.  35. 

9  Ibid.,  p.  247. 

10  Cf.  Commons,  J.  R.,  in  Charities  and  Commons  (1909),  XXI, 
p.  1051. 

11  From  1913-18  the  average  number  of  forced  idle  days  in  the 
coal  areas  of  Illinois,  Indiana,  Ohio,  and  Pittsburgh  was  over  158. 
Stelzle,  C.,  World  Outlook,  Jan.,  1920,  p.  38. 


22  The  Russian  Immigrant 

For  the  larger  proportion  of  Russians,  the  job  is 
their  first  real  taste  of  America  and  it  is  decidedly 
a  bitter  one.  The  contrast  to  Russia  makes  it  diffi 
cult  for  him  successfully  to  adjust  himself  to  the 
speed  and  monotony  of  large  scale  production  even 
in  such  employments  as  textile  or  automobile  manu 
facture.  Nevertheless,  those  who  find  themselves  in 
mining  or  steel  might  change  to  other  industries  if 
they  knew  how,  but  the  difficulties  in  the  way  appear 
formidable.  In  ordinary  times  it  is  no  easy  task  to 
find  work  in  an  unfamiliar  occupation.  Unless  the 
immigrant  were  particularly  fortunate  after  his 
arrival,  he  must  have  had  an  anxious  period  of  hunt 
ing  employment.  The  fear  of  joblessness  and  of  the 
loss  of  savings  makes  him  endure  what  he  otherwise 
would  not.  Even  in  such  a  prosperous  year  as  1919, 
Whiting  Williams,  a  college  graduate  with  a  splen 
did  physique,  had  great  difficulty  in  getting  work.12 
How  much  harder  it  must  have  been  for  the  Russian 
is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  hundreds  were  out  of 
employment  in  Pittsburgh  alone  in  the  same  year.13 

The  Employer 

In  the  early  stages  of  American  industry  the  Rus 
sian  might  have  hoped  at  least  to  see  his  employer. 
There  would  have  been  a  chance  for  some  point  of 

12  Williams,  op.  cit.,  pp.  3-10. 

13  According  to  testimony  given  to  the  writer  by  representatives 
of  the  International  Institute,  by  the  Russians  themselves,  and  by 
investigators  of  the  Inter-Church  World  Movement. 


Environing  Economic  Forces  23 

contact  making  for  mutual  understanding  and  co 
operation.  To-day  except  for  vague  concepts  from 
hearsay  and  misrepresentation,  the  employer  is  an 
entirely  unknown  quantity  to  the  Russian.  Nor  is 
this  entirely  one-sided.  In  the  "absentee"  type  of 
corporation  to  which  the  basic  industries  of  which 
we  have  been  speaking  belong,  the  employer  rarely 
sees,  much  less  knows,  anything  about  the  workmen. 
This  is  well  illustrated  in  the  steel  industry.  As  the 
Inter-Church  report  states,  "Ultimate  control  of 
the  plants  was  vested  in  a  small  group  of  financiers 
whose  relation  to  the  producing  force  was  remote. 
The  financial  group's  machinery  of  control  gave  it 
full  knowledge  of  output  and  dividends  but  neg 
ligible  information  of  working  and  living  condi 
tions."  14 

In  the  investigation  conducted  by  the  writer  in 
factories  and  mines  in  Eastern  states,  the  manage 
ment  seemed  to  know  almost  nothing  about  the 
Russians  employed.  In  many  cases  they  did  not 
even  know  how  many  of  that  nationality  were  on 
their  books,  for  Poles,  Finns,  Jews  and  other  races 
were  lumped  together.  At  one  time  the  sending 
out  of  a  questionnaire  to  manufacturers  on  the  num 
ber  of  Russians  employed,  their  health,  housing  and 
living  conditions,  was  considered  by  the  writer.  The 
project  was  abandoned  on  the  advice  of  the  person 
nel  departments  of  a  number  of  plants,  who  said 
the  companies  themselves  did  not  have  the  facts. 

14  Inter-Church  Report,  op.  a/.,  p.  n. 


24  The  Russian  Immigrant 

The  personnel  superintendent  of  the  Winchester 
Repeating  Arms  Co.,  for  example,  said  that  al 
though  that  company  has  been  employing  Russians 
in  all  departments,  they  have  "no  statistics  to  show 
how  many  there  are."  A  letter  from  the  secretary 
to  the  Immigration  Committee  of  the  Merchants 
and  Manufacturers  Association  of  New  York  City, 
advised  that  such  a  questionnaire  would  be  useless, 
as  "most  large  employers  know  very  little  about  the 
character  or  habits  of  their  employees  aside  from 
productive  ability."  15 

The  attitude  which  an  employer  assumes  towards 
the  worker  is  partly  the  product  of  social  pressure 
and  in  some  cases  seems  to  have  its  primary  source 
in  the  organs  of  public  opinion.  At  any  rate,  after 
the  scare  about  the  Bolsheviks  had  been  sensation 
ally  exploited  by  our  press,  Russians  began  to  be 
laid  off  right  and  left  simply  on  account  of  their 
nationality.  Harvey  Anderson,  formerly  in  charge 
of  Y.M.C.A.  work  for  Russians  in  America,  sums 
up  the  general  situation  in  1919  as  follows:  "Since 
the  'Bolshevik'  regime  began  in  Russia,  the  Russian 
is  regarded  everywhere  as  a  'Bolshevik'  and  is 
shunned.  I  encountered  a  case  the  other  day  where 
an  employer  got  the  idea  that  the  distinguishing 
feature  of  a  'Bolshevik'  was  a  beard,  so  he  refused 
to  give  employment  to  some  faithful  and  loyal  Old 
Believers  whose  religious  conviction  does  not  per 
mit  them  to  shave.  Whenever  the  employer  has 

15  Letter  to  the  writer  from  M.  E.  Dodge,  Dec.  29,  1920. 


Environing  Economic  Forces  25 

found  it  necessary  to  cut  down  the  number  of  em 
ployees,  the  Russian  has  been  the  first  to  go.  When 
he  seeks  new  employment  he  is  inevitably  met  with 
the  suspicion  that  he  is  a  'Bolshevik'  and  he  goes 
on  hunting  for  a  job  and  in  his  soul  grows  and 
grows  a  spirit  of  revolt.  He  begins  to  hate  Amer 
ica  and  everything  American,  and  is  ready  to  believe 
anything  bad  about  her."  16 

The  inevitable  result  has  been  that  whereas  these 
men  were  good  honest  workers,  they  became  revolt- 
ers  against  the  existing  order.  This  is  expressed  in 
a  letter  from  an  educated  Russian  of  Worcester, 
Mass. :  "Many  thousands  of  Russians  in  this  coun 
try  while  they  work  have  hardly  enough  to  live  on, 
and  now  that  the  war  is  ended,  they  are  discharged 
from  factories,  and  told  'You  are  a  Bolshevik.' 
Many  of  them  do  not  know  what  Bolshevism  and 
what  capitalism  mean — but  they  make  real  Bolshe 
viks  out  of  them."  In  Akron  in  1920  some  Rus 
sians  even  shaved  their  beards  and  used  English 
names  in  order  to  get  jobs  as  Americans. 

Representatives  of  several  large  firms  frankly 
told  the  writer  that  they  refused  employment  to 
Russians.  "We  can  get  plenty  of  other  nationali 
ties,"  said  one  employer,  "why  take  Bolsheviks?" 
Unfortunately,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  Russian 
worker,  it  does  not  seem  quite  so  simple  or  so  fair. 
He  comes  to  our  country,  works  seven  years  in  the 
steel  plant,  loses  his  best  strength  in  the  work,  and 

16  From  an  unpublished  statement  transmitted  to  the  author. 


26  The  Russian  Immigrant 

then  is  laid  off  because  the  Bolsheviks  seize  control 
in  Russia.  The  great  majority  stoically  struggle  on, 
but  a  priest  told  me  of  two  who  were  found  dead  on 
the  railroad  track  with  the  following  note  in  Rus 
sian  :  "We  prefer  death  to  starvation.  Have  slaved 
in  a  steel  plant  for  seven  years.  Now  they  discharge 
us  and  we  can't  find  a  job." 

This  discrimination  against  the  Russian  on  the 
part  of  the  employer,  and  lack  of  information,  lead 
to  equally  absurd  conclusions  by  the  worker,  who  is 
led  to  believe  that  like  the  rich  barons  in  Russia, 
the  greedy  capitalist  is  exploiting  him  for  profit. 
Mr.  Whiting  Williams,  whom  we  have  mentioned, 
after  his  experience  as  a  laborer,  states  that  "the 
relation  between  the  large  employer  and,  for  the 
most  part,  the  foreign-born  and  foreign-speaking 
worker  in  the  labor  gangs"  is  expressed  by  the 
phrase  of  the  workers,  "Aw,  w'at  da  hell!  w'at  da 
hell  da  companee  care  'bout  us?"  Mr.  Williams 
concludes  that  the  astounding  ignorance  of  the 
worker  "concerning  the  plans  and  purposes,  the 
aims  and  ideals,  the  character  of  the  other  human 
element  in  the  same  problem,  his  employer,  is  un- 
equaled  by  anything  I  can  think  of — unless  it  is 
his  employer's  ignorance  of  him !  To  each  the  other 
stands  as  the  V  in  the  equation  of  the  factory  or 
ganization."  1T 

Because  this  is  true,  it  is  all  the  more  unfortunate 
and  a  potential  cause  of  trouble  that  there  is  no 

"  Williams,  W.,  Collier's  Weekly,  July  3,  1920,  p.  7. 


Environing  Economic  Forces  27 

department  in  a  great  many  of  these  plants  to  settle 
a  grievance  or  to  give  information.  Mistakes  occur 
in  industrial  life  as  elsewhere,  and  too  often  the 
Slav  does  not  know  how  to  secure  redress.  Even 
Mr.  Williams  found  himself  "fired"  when  he  tried 
to  secure  a  loan  on  the  wages  already  due  him  in  a 
steel  plant.  In  another  case  he  nearly  lost  his 
wages  because  he  had  no  time  card  and  on  leaving 
the  company  was  unable  to  secure  his  money  because 
it  was  not  pay  day.18  These  and  a  hundred  other 
things  occur  with  Russian  workers  who  do  not  know 
English  and,  not  having  the  social  background  to 
understand  that  it  is  partly  their  own  fault,  they 
often  set  it  down  as  deliberate  injustice. 

Accidents 

The  feeling  that  the  employer,  like  the  Russian 
baron,  cares  nothing  for  the  worker,  receives  a  fur 
ther  stimulus  from  the  prevalence  of  accidents  and 
the  absence,  in  many  cases,  of  any  particular  effort 
on  the  part  of  the  company  to  make  permanent  pro 
vision  for  the  injured.  Although  the  employers' 
liability  laws  and  safety  appliances  have  eliminated 
both  a  great  many  accidents  and  also  a  large  share 
of  the  injustice  connected  with  them,  there  is  still 
room  for  a  great  deal  of  improvement.  In  the  coal 
mines  alone  there  were  2,317  fatalities  in  1919 
and  2,260  in  I92O.19  Indeed  the  average  death  rate 

18  Williams,  W.,  op.  cit.,  pp.  144  and  161. 

19  U.    S.    Bureau    of   Mines,    Monthly   Statement    of    Coal   Mine 
Fatalities  in  the  United  States,  June,  1921,  p.  6. 


28  The  Russian  Immigrant 

from  accidents  in  coal  mining  per  one  thousand 
workers  in  the  United  States  is  three  times  that  of 
Great  Britain.20  The  number  of  those  who  are 
merely  injured  in  coal  mining  and  in  the  iron  and 
steel  industry,  although  unknown  must  be  far  larger. 
Yet  a  surprising  number  of  injured  Russians  still 
claim  never  to  have  received  any  compensation.  In 
the  few  cases  the  author  attempted  to  investigate, 
the  failure  seemed  to  be  due  to  the  ignorance  of  the 
Russian,  his  lack  of  legal  advice,  and  the  fact  that 
he  feared  that  action  on  his  part  might  debar  him 
from  all  chances  of  further  employment  by  the  same 
company.  It  also  seems  to  be  true  that  the  Russian 
is  indifferent  to  danger;  he  is  willing  to  accept  haz 
ardous  work  and  therefore  is  injured  oftener  than 
many  other  nationalities.  Nevertheless,  in  common 
with  most  people,  after  he  has  been  injured,  he  feels 
that  he  has  been  unfairly  treated  and  is  sometimes 
very  bitter  about  the  indifference  of  the  company 
to  his  plight.  This  feeling  seems  to  be  shared  to 
some  extent  by  all  the  Russians. 

Most  of  the  states  have  fairly  adequate  compen 
sation  laws  but  New  Hampshire  and  New  Jersey, 
two  states  in  which  considerable  numbers  of  Russians 
are  employed,  still  expressly  exclude  alien  non-resi 
dent  dependents  from  compensation.21  Even  in 
Pennsylvania  and  in  New  York,  the  Russians  claim 


20  International  Labor  Review,  vol.  v,  no.  i,  Jan.,  1922,  p.  140. 

21  Pamphlet  of  the  American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation, 
Nov.,  1920. 


Environing  Economic  Forces  29 

that  since  communication  with  Russia  has  been  sev 
ered  following  the  Bolshevik  control,  no  compensa 
tion  could  be  collected  in  most  cases  for  wives  and 
children  in  the  homeland.  The  writer  has  listened 
to  scores  of  cases  cited  by  Russian  priests,  who  were 
willing  to  swear  to  the  facts,  that  injured  men  of 
their  congregations  had  received  no  compensation 
in  spite  of  the  law.  They,  too,  testify  that  the  Rus 
sian  is  ignorant  of  its  provisions  and  has  scant  legal 
aid.  The  following  is  merely  one  illustration  from 
Father  Kozuboff  of  Hartford :  uln  the  hospital  now 
there  lies  a  man  whose  legs  were  crushed  when  a 
bucket  for  loading  coal  broke  loose  from  the  chain. 
The  doctor  says  he  can  never  walk,  yet  when  he 
leaves  the  hospital  he  gets  nothing,  for  he  has  no 
witnesses  to  the  accident."  Whether  or  not  such 
statements  are  exaggerated,  they  go  to  show  that  the 
Russian  is  a  mere  cog  in  the  machine  of  production. 
Indeed,  he  does  not  receive  the  care  that  parts  of  a 
machine  do.  They  are  constantly  oiled  and  pro 
tected.  Every  possible  care  is  taken  of  them,  and 
when  the  machine  is  not  in  use  a  guard  is  kept  on  the 
premises.  But  for  the  human  cog,  little  thought  is 
taken.  He  can  over-work,  eat  bad  food,  sleep  in 
rooms  ill-ventilated  and  unsanitary — and  the  em 
ployer  seemingly  cares  nothing.  When  the  Russian 
"lays  off"  the  job  there  is  too  often  no  human  guard 
from  the  factory  to  see  what  can  be  done  to  help  and 
protect  him.  If  the  cog  is  smashed  to  atoms  or  even 
only  injured  so  that  he  needs  patching,  the  accident 


30  The  Russian  Immigrant 

insurance  covers  the  costs.  The  cog  can  be  replaced 
immediately  without  cost  by  a  new  Russian.  If  the 
machine  is  broken,  it  means  delay  in  production 
and  new  costs.  In  a  large  steel  plant  visited  in 
the  summer  of  1920,  the  doctor  stated  that  an  aver 
age  of  one-fifth  of  the  working  force  visited  the  dis 
pensary  every  month.  uMost  of  them  come  from 
accidents  to  their  eyes.  We  have  not  yet  secured 
glasses  which  can  be  worn  in  the  intense  heat  of  the 
blast  furnace,"  said  he. 

Now  although  the  Russian  is  of  a  stoical  tempera 
ment  and  accepts  these  conditions  with  seeming  in 
difference,  if  one  can  win  his  confidence,  his  real 
thoughts  can  be  uncovered.  He  feels  that  he  is 
being  treated  as  a  mere  tool;  that  his  unknown  com 
pany  employer  does  not  care  what  happens  to  him. 

The  Boss 

In  contrast  to  the  employer  whom  he  rarely  if 
ever  sees,  the  worker  is  in  very  close  and  constant 
relations  with  one  man,  the  boss  or  foreman,  who 
comes  more  and  more  to  represent  the  industry  to 
him.  Often  he  is  even  hired  or  fired  by  the  boss 
and  if  he  does  pass  through  an  employment  depart 
ment  it  is  merely  for  a  formal  question  or  two  and 
for  registration  on  the  company's  books.  Not  only 
is  the  boss  an  ever-present  reality,  but  he  is  usually 
so  unlike  the  Russian  that  mutual  misunderstanding 
results. 

In  the  great  majority  of  factories  and  shops  which 


Environing  Economic  Forces  3 1 

the  writer  has  visited,  the  foreman  for  the  unskilled 
alien  is  also  a  foreigner.  There  were  German, 
Polish,  Italian,  Irish,  Magyar,  and  Welsh  bosses — 
Mr.  Williams  speaks  also  of  Greek  and  Spanish. 
Too  often  the  most  conspicuous  "Americanism"  they 
have  absorbed  is  profanity.  Mr.  Williams  expresses 
it  in  these  words,  "The  gang  bosses,  at  least  those 
of  the  labor  gangs,  seem  to  be  the  worst  examples 
of  what-the-hell  philosophy."  That  neither  the 
boss  nor  the  Russian  wholly  understands  the  other  is 
but  natural,  for  they  are  unlike  products  of  different 
European  backgrounds,  possessing  strong  racial  an 
tagonisms.  Sometimes  all  they  have  in  common  in 
the  matter  of  language  is  a  most  meager  vocabulary, 
slang  English,  "job"  phrases  pronounced  with  a  for 
eign  accent  to  the  accompaniment  of  much  profan 
ity.  It  is  natural  that  when  the  worker  is  new,  his 
lack  of  understanding  is  profound,  hence  the  num 
ber  of  oaths  that  are  hurled  at  him  is  enormous.  It 
is  small  wonder  that  he  dislikes  the  boss  even  when 
he  is  an  American.  H.  W.  Anderson,  formerly  in 
charge  of  the  Y.M.C.A.  work  for  Russians  in 
America,  says: 

The  Russian  has  ever  thought  of  the  government  as  an 
oppressor,  and  he  transfers  his  mistrust,  suspicion  and  hate 
for  the  Russian  government  to  the  "boss"  where  he  works, 
who  represents  to  him  America.  A  few  days  ago  we  wit 
nessed  a  typical  incident.  Something  had  gone  wrong  with 
the  work  of  some  Russians.  The  men  were  not  to  blame, 

22  Williams,  op.  cit.,  p.  18. 


32  The  Russian  Immigrant 

yet  the  young  American  foreman  blamed  it  all  on  the , 

,  lazy .  They  faced  the  angry  tirade  of  the  fore 
man  with  stolid,  sullen  faces  and  made  no  reply,  but  in  their 
hearts  they  registered  one  more  case  against  America.23 

This  is  but  a  typical  specimen  of  conditions  which 
are  all  too  widely  prevalent. 

It  is  true  that  some  of  the  Russians  draw  a  dis 
tinction  between  the  squad  foreman  who  works  with 
them  and  the  boss  foreman.  The  former  shares  in 
their  labor  and  is  often  friendly,  but  they  consider 
the  latter  as  almost  invariably  bad,  feeling  that  he 
deliberately  makes  them  do  work  that  is  too  difficult. 
For  example,  a  Russian  in  Philadelphia  said, 
"The  boss  makes  two  of  us  carry  steel  which  should 
require  four.  If  I  refuse,  I  lose  my  job.  Lots  of 
weeks  the  work  is  so  heavy  I  get  pains  in  my  back 
and  have  to  lay  off  three  days  out  of  seven."  Or 
again,  in  a  mill  in  Pittsburgh,  the  boss,  Pete,  accord 
ing  to  the  testimony  of  a  Russian,  is  a  giant  who 
can  do  the  work  of  two  ordinary  men.  In  some 
what  exaggerated  language  more  clearly  to  convey 
his  meaning,  he  said:  "The  boss  can  lift  two  tons 
himself.  He  will  watch  us  straining  to  lift  a  two- 
ton  iron  and  will  laugh  at  us  and  yell,  'You  

Polack,  push.'  We  will  break  our  backs  try 
ing  and  he  will  not  lift  a  finger  to  help  us." 

Occasionally  the  writer  ran  across  Russians  who 
did  have  good  foremen  as  in  the  following  case. 
"Bopp,  our  foreman,  has  lost  an  eye,  and  is  a  good 

23  From  an  unpublished  statement  transmitted  to  the  author. 


Environing  Economic  Forces  33 

American.  When  the  work  is  heavy  he  will  help 
us.  He  rarely  swears  at  us,  all  the  other  bosses  do." 
But  even  in  this  case,  the  Russian  did  not  have  any 
more  friendly  attitude  toward  the  management.  He 
seemed  to  feel  that  "Bopp"  was  good  in  spite  of  a 
grasping  and  dishonest  company. 

The  Inter-Church  Report  summarizes  what  it 
considers  the  grievances  in  the  life  of  the  Russian 
immigrant  steel  worker  as  follows: 

Nine  times  out  of  ten  he  is  a  peasant,  taking  an  industrial 
job  for  the  first  time.  At  the  start,  only  as  wages  fail  to 
keep  him  and  his  family  as  he  wants  them  to  be  kept,  or  the 
hours  break  down  his  health,  does  he  care  much  about  "con 
trolling"  either  wages  or  hours.  What  matters  most  to 
him  is  that  if  the  miTTis  shut  down,  he  is  the  first  to  be  laid 
off;  if  the  job  is  unusually  hot,  greasy,  or  heavy,  he  is  the 
first  to  be  set  to  it.  He  is  the  most  arbitrarily,  often 
brutally,  shifted  and  ordered  about;  if  he  takes  a  lay-off, 
he  is  the  most  likely  to  be  heavily  docked,  and  he  is  the 
most  likely  to  be  kept  beyond  his  hour  with  no  additional 
pay.  If  there  is  sickness  in  his  home  or  he  is  otherwise  kept 
away,  his  excuses  get  the  shortest  shrift.  If  he  is  the  butt 
of  unusual  prejudice  in  either  his  foreman  or  some  fellow 
worker  evinced  in  profanity  or  the  penalties  of  always  the 
nastier  task,  he  knows  least  where  to  go  for  redress  or  how 
to  speak  it.24 

Yet  the  writer  is  convinced  that  aside  from  the 
fact  that  the  Russian  is  usually  the  marginal  worker, 

24  Inter-Church  Report,  op.  cit.,  pp.  135-136.  The  above  quota 
tion  includes  certain  other  foreign  workers  besides  the  Russian.) 


34  The  Russian  Immigrant 

most  of  these  grievances  arise  directly  from  his  rela 
tions  with  the  boss  who  to  the  worker  typifies  the 
industry. 

For  his  Master's  thesis  at  Chicago  University, 
J.  S.  Cole  25  made  a  careful  study  of  112  single  Rus 
sians,  the  majority  of  whom  were  either  employed 
in  the  stock  yards  of  Chicago  or  in  stables,  or  were 
temporarily  out  of  work.  He  reported  that  they 
were  very  bitter  against  the  boss,  their  attitude  be 
ing  summed  up  in  the  following  remarks : 

"Before  war,  very  good;  but  now  all,  no  mat 
ter  what  nationality,  laid  off  on  least  excuse.  If 
horse  no  can  pull  wagon,  put  on  another  horse.  If 
man  no  can  pull  truck,  lay  him  off." 

"Foreman  very  severe ;  sometimes  lay  off  day  for 
being  minute  late.  Rush  so  at  work  that  you  almost 
faint.  Treatment  worse  now  since  it  is  very  easy 
to  replace  men." 

"Boss  very  hard.  Fired  one  man,  he  was  in  his 
place  two  minutes  before  whistle  blew  to  enter 
shop." 

"Bosses  very  unreasonable.  One  man  left  truck 
to  get  drink  and  boss  fired  him.  Have  to  bribe  boss 
to  keep  job." 

"Too  strict  about  time;  if  one  minute  late,  dock 
one-half  hour.  Getting  worse  all  the  time.  Often 
work  so  hard  get  weak  and  when  tell  foreman  he 
says  we  are  drunk." 

25  Cole,  J.  S.  R.   (Chicago,  1919),  unpublished  study  transmitted 
to  the  author. 


Environing  Economic  Forces  35 

"Treat  Russian  like  dog." 

After  talking  with  several  hundred  Russians  in 
mining  and  steel  plants,  the  writer  found  the  re 
sponses  much  the  same;  ninety  per  cent  or  more  fear 
and  hate  the  boss.  Even  when  ignorant  of  English 
they  are  all  familiar  with  the  common  epithet  he 
hurls  at  them,  "You • Polack."  The  dis 
regard  of  all  racial  distinctions  simply  accentuates 
the  insult.  In  their  eyes  the  boss  is  as  autocratic 
and  domineering  as  the  Tsar's  officials.  And  so, 
during  working  hours,  the  chief  social  bond  affect 
ing  the  worker's  effort  is  despotic  power  and  a  fear- 
inspired  obedience.  This  is  not  true  of  all  the  Rus 
sian  workers,  but  there  is  something  of  this  feeling 
among  a  great  many.  It  is  tempered  by  the  fact 
that  they  are  free  to  leave  the  employment  per 
manently  at  the  end  of  a  day's  work,  but  in  that  case 
the  job  is  gone  and  savings  begin  to  dwindle.  The 
Russians  expressed  their  feelings  to  the  writer  in 
these  terms — to  cite  two  examples: 

"The  boss  is  worse  than  the  Tsar's  officials;  they 
would  flog  us  and  let  us  go,  he  drives  us  to  a  slow 
death." 

"If  he  were  good,  would  not  be  boss.  Boss 
like  dog,  always  snapping  and  swearing  at  every 
body." 

These  reactions  in  the  mind  of  the  Russian  show 
how  little  friendship  he  has  for  the  boss.  No  doubt 
part  of  this  is  inevitable  in  the  relationship  which 
must  exist  between  the  one  directing  a  task  and  a 


36  The  Russian  Immigrant 

group  of  ignorant  foreigners  who  are  doing  the  ac 
tual  disagreeable  work,  yet  at  present  it  does  seem 
that  the  relationship  is  unnecessarily  antagonistic. 
Apparently  little  or  no  attempt  is  made  in  our  basic 
industries  to  give  adequate  instruction  to  the  fore 
men  or  bosses  in  the  art  of  human  relations,  and  as 
a  result  the  Russian  does  not  see  the  good  side  of 
the  management  or  of  America  in  the  factory  or 
mine.  Instead,  the  contrast  to  his  former  free  peas 
ant  toil  in  the  fields  eats  into  his  soul;  the  boss  has 
instilled  the  caustic  of  resentment.  He  is  the  task 
master  who  drives  him  on  at  a  killing  pace,  who 
exploits  him — he  seems  to  represent  America. 

The  Labor  Union 

The  Russian  toiling  at  the  bottom  of  our  indus 
trial  ladder  has  no  chance  to  join  the  ordinary  trade 
union  which  is  jealously  watched  over  by  the  skilled 
or  semi-skilled.  Even  for  the  exceptional  Russian 
of  ability,  the  initiation  fee  is  likely  to  be  higher 
than  he  cares  to  pay.  One  of  the  educated  Russians, 
a  skillful  carpenter,  told  me  he  could  not  afford  to 
pay  the  initiation  fee,  nor  did  he  care  to  serve  as  an 
apprentice  at  the  low  rate  of  pay  required  by  the 
Union  before  he  would  be  eligible  for  the  better 
position.  He  preferred  to  work  as  a  non-union  man. 

For  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Russians  working 
outside  of  the  mines,  there  is  little  opportunity  to 
join  a  labor  group  other  than  the  I.W.W.,  or  the 
purely  Russian  political  organization  known  as  "The 


Environing  Economic  Forces  37 

Union  of  Russian  Workers,"  which  will  be  treated 
in  another  chapter.  The  head  of  the  Union's  Fed 
eration  in  Akron  stated  that  although  there  were 
hundreds  of  Russians  in  the  rubber  plants,  there 
was  not  a  single  one  in  the  Union. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  we  have  already  noted,  the 
Russian  in  his  native  land  has  been  used  to  coopera 
tion.  He  is  therefore  willing  and  eager  to  join  with 
his  fellows  in  a  class  organization.  Furthermore, 
in  industrial  conflicts  his  idealism  and  loyalty  to  the 
union  even  at  great  cost  to  himself  are  well  known. 
No  doubt  the  most  important  reason  for  this  is  that 
he  feels  the  bad  conditions  under  which  he  is  work 
ing  and  that  he  has  less  to  lose,  but  there  is  still 
another  reason:  he  is  usjed  to  hardship  and  coopera 
tive  effort  and  will  endure  to  the  end  if  the  group 
will  thereby  gain.  This  was  shown  in  the  great  an 
thracite  coal  strike  of  1902,  in  the  strike  in  the  Chi 
cago  slaughter  houses  in  1904,  in  the  textile  strike 
in  Massachusetts  and  the  steel  strike  in  Pennsylvania 
in  I9I9.26  The  attitude  of  the  Russians  in  the  steel 
industry  as  an  American  labor  organizer,  W.  Z, 
Foster,  views  it,  follows : 

He  has  that  group  idea  very  strongly  developed.  In  his 
own  country  individualism  plays  a  small  part.  He  is 
labeled  and  tagged  and  oppressed,  and  he  is  classed,  and  his 
psychology  is  pretty  simple  over  there.  He  knows  what 
he  is,  and  if  there  is  any  possible  chance  for  him  to  do  any 
thing,  he  feels  that  it  is  as  a  group,  not  as  an  individual. 

26  Cf.  Balch,  op.  cit.,  pp.  290-291. 


38  The  Russian  Immigrant 

He  comes  over  here  and  he  seems  to  respond  to  an  appeal 
better  than  Americans  do.  But  he  is  very  materialistic  in 
his  demands.  You  know  you  can  convince  the  Americans 
and  you  can  hold  an  organization  for  years  in  a  plant  with 
out  getting  a  cent  of  benefit  out  of  it  directly.  But  the 
foreigner  you  can't  hold  that  way.  He  comes  in  for  in 
crease  of  wages  and  shortening  of  hours.  He  comes  in 
quite  readily,  but  if  you  don't  get  him  the  results,  he  drops 
away  quite  readily  also. 

Then  a  peculiar  thing  happens.  When  the  fight  occurs, 
he  is  a  splendid  fighter.  He  has  the  American  beaten  when 
it  comes  to  a  fight.  I  don't  say  that  in  criticism  of  the 
American,  but  I  think  it  is  due  to  the  position  he  occupies 
in  the  industry.  The  American  usually  holds  the  good  job, 
and  he  has  a  home  half  paid  for,  and  he  is  full  of  responsi 
bility;  whereas  the  foreigner  is  more  foot-loose;  has  a  poor 
job  anyway,  and  he  doesn't  feel  that  so  much  is  at  stake. 

He  will  stick,  while  the  American  will  go  back  to  work. 
That  is  what  happened  in  the  mills  just  now.  When  the 
fight  occurs  the  foreigner  displays  a  wonderful  amount  of 
idealism,  a  wonderful  amount  of  stick-to-it-iveness  that  is 
altogether  dissimilar  to  the  intensely  materialistic  spirit  he 
shows  in  his  union  transactions.27 

The  Bulletins  issued  every  few  days  by  the  Na 
tional  Committee  for  Organizing  Iron  and  Steel 
Workers  were  printed  in  Slavic  and  Polish  as  well 
as  English.  The  Russian  workers  usually  had  some 
one  who  could  read  either  one  of  these  languages  or 
could  translate  from  the  English.  The  character 
of  the  text  was  naturally  not  such  as  to  make  them 

27  Inter-Church  Report,  op.  cit.,  pp.  162-163. 


Environing  Economic  Forces  39 

look  favorably  on  our  capitalists  or  the  American 
press.  Several  of  the  Russian  workers  furnished 
copies  and  the  following  is  from  Number  13,  dated 
October  23,  1919: 

"Trade  Unions  are  mighty  in  power,  but  their 
power  is  not  like  the  power  of  the  Steel  Trust.  The 
Steel  Trust  has  millions  and  millions  of  dollars  to 
fight  with;  the  labor  unions  have  no  money  or  very 
little,  but  they  have  millions  and  millions  of  men.n 

Bulletin  Number  12,  dated  October  20,  states 
that  the  Homestead  steel  plant,  in  absolute  contra 
diction  to  the  newspaper  accounts,  is  closed  instead 
of  "running  'practically'  at  capacity." 

These  bulletins,  together  with  inflammatory 
speeches  at  those  meetings  which  were  permitted,  as 
well  as  the  action  of  the  constabulary,  to  be  treated 
later,  increased  the  hostility  of  the  Russians  towards 
America.  When  the  strike  was  lost,  the  Russians 
complained  about  the  Union  as  useless  and  of  Amer 
ican  workers  as  traitors  for  going  back  before  it 
was  ended.  "We  didn't  start  the  strike,"  said  one 
to  me,  "Americans  are  at  the  head  of  it.  They  told 
us  that  we  would  be  traitors  to  our  fellow  workmen 
if  we  did  not  support  it.  Now  we  have  done  it  and 
the  newspapers  call  us  'reds,'  'I.W.W.'s,'  'Bolshe 
viks.'  Us  they  refuse  to  take  back,  but  the  Amer 
icans  get  their  jobs." 

One  of  these  men  whom  the  writer  visited  was 
refused  employment  following  the  strike.  It  so  hap 
pened  that  his  tenement  house  was  right  next  to  the 


4O  The  Russian  Immigrant 

steel  plant.  After  two  months'  search  he  found  a 
job  in  a  mill  one  hour  away  by  street  car.  He 
worked  eleven  hours  a  day  one  week  and  thirteen 
hours  a  night  the  next.  On  his  night  shift  fifteen 
hours  were  spent  daily  at  his  work  and  traveling  to 
and  fro.  It  is  small  wonder  that  he  was  bitterly 
discouraged  and  blamed  the  union  and  America. 
His  wife  claimed  that  they  went  to  church  when 
they  could,  and  before  they  had  become  disillusioned 
by  the  heartlessness  of  the  corporation  they  had 
believed  in  America.  An  American  flag  and  a  relig 
ious  picture  over  the  bed  seemed  to  confirm  her 
statement.  She  concluded,  "We  now  know  America 
means  money.  We  Russians  are  only  like  flies,  too 
small — company  doesn't  care." 

The  United  Mine  Workers  of  America  is  one  of 
the  few  industrial  unions  accepting  all  who  work  in 
and  about  the  mines  for  membership.  Consequently, 
nearly  all  the  Russians  engaged  in  the  coal  industry 
belong  to  it,  although  their  exact  membership  is  not 
known,  all  Slavs  being  classed  together.  According 
to  the  union  officials,  the  Russians  make  very  faith 
ful  members.  The  weekly  journal  of  the  Union 
contains  three  pages  in  Slovak.  While,  as  many 
writers  claim,  the  unions  do  a  great  deal  toward 
Americanizing  the  foreigner,28  it  is  not  strange  that 
they  should  represent  the  coal  corporations  in  a  bad 
light.  The  United  Mine  Workers  oppose  I.  W.  W.- 

28Balch,  op.  cit.,  p.  292,  and  article  by  Charles  Stelzle,   World 
Outlook,  Jan.,  1920,  p.  27. 


Environing  Economic  Forces  41 

ism,  Bolshevism,  and  radicalism,  but  they  do  not 
hesitate  to  acquaint  their  members  with  what  they 
consider  unjust  in  our  industrial  order.  For  ex 
ample,  one  number  of  their  journal 29  has  articles 
entitled  "Harrowing  Story  of  Fiendish  Cruelty 
Practiced  on  Families  of  Non-Union  Miners  at  Cru 
cible,  Pa.,"  "Cruel  Discrimination  by  Harlan 
County  Operators,"  "If  a  Coal  Miner  Is  Guilty,  Is 
an  Operator  Guilty  for  Doing  the  Very  Same 
Thing?"  "More  Misrepresentation,"  "More  of  That 
Propaganda."  These  articles  attack  the  corpora 
tions  and  statements  of  such  men  as  Judge  Gary 
and  Senator  Pomerene  of  Ohio.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  same  number  says  much  about  the  honesty  of 
the  American  people  as  a  whole  and  proclaims  the 
fact  that  the  miners  "believe  in  and  uphold  Amer 
ican  ideals."  In  spite  of  this  the  United  Mine 
Workers  of  America  are  not  making  the  Russians 
enthusiastic  supporters  of  our  nation,  they  see  too 
much  of  the  dark  side.  Moreover,  they  do  not  often 
mingle  with  the  American  men.  As  several  of  the 
Russian  and  Slavic  organizers,  interviewed,  said: 
"The  Russians  are  loyal  to  the  Union.  They  pay 
their  dues  well,  but  they  stick  together  and  take 
little  interest  in  the  meetings  which  are  usually  run 
by  Americans  or  leaders  of  other  nationalities.  We 
are  content  if  they  pay  their  dues."  If  this  is  true 
even  in  the  United  Mine  Workers  organization,  to 
which  a  great  many  of  the  Russians  belong,  it  can 

29  Jan.  15,  1920  (appeared  during  a  strike  period). 


42  The  Russian  Immigrant 

readily  be  understood  that,  taken  as  a  whole,  the 
social  impress  of  the  Union  on  the  Russian  is  not 
great.  He  accepts  it  where  he  has  the  chance,  but  it 
does  not  vitally  concern  him;  he  is  an  outsider,  a 
passive  participant  in  its  activities.  His  relation  to 
the  Union  at  least  teaches  him  something  of  demo 
cratic  government,  for  he  has  an  equal  vote  with 
his  American  fellow  workers  even  though  he  other 
wise  plays  a  minor  part. 

Wages 

As  would  be  expected  with  a  marginal  worker,  the 
Russian  is  receiving  a  low  rate  of  pay.  Judge  Gary 
admits  that  70,000  men  in  the  steel  industry  are 
receiving  the  lowest  rate.30  We  have  already  indi 
cated  that  the  Russians  are  in  this  class.  The  rate 
of  pay  was  "less  than  enough  for  the  average 
American  family's  subsistence,"  31  according  to  the 
budgets  of  Professor  Ogburn,  Professor  Chapin,  the 
New  York  Factory  Commission,  the  New  York 
Board  of  Estimate,  all  brought  up  to  date  to  con 
form  to  the  rise  in  the  cost  of  living.32  But  in  the 
matter  of  money  wages,  the  Russian  is  vastly  better 
off  than  he  was  in  his  home  land,  and  this  is  one  of 
the  big  compensations  to  him  for  the  hard  condi 
tions.  If  he  can  but  save  enough,  some  day  he  will 
return  to  Russia  as  a  comparatively  wealthy  peas- 

30  Inter-Church  Report,  op.  cit.,  p.  5. 

31  It  must  be   remembered   that  the  majority  of  Russians  were 
single  or  without  their  wives  in  America. 

82  Ibid.,  pp.  225-263,  92-95. 


Environing  Economic  Forces  43 

ant.  If  that  is  not  his  ambition,  he  is  able  to  send 
amounts,  which  will  seem  fabulous  to  them,  back  to 
his  relatives  or  he  can  send  for  his  wife  and  chil 
dren  to  join  him  here. 

The  study  of  the  Immigration  Commission  in 
1909  33  showed  that  2,819  foreign-born  Russians  re 
ceived  an  average  wage  of  $2.06  a  day;  this  was 
three  cents  below  the  average  of  all  the  foreign-born. 
The  248  of  the  second  generation  received  only  an 
average  of  $1.98,  which  was  35  cents  below  the  gen 
eral  average  of  native-born  of  foreign  fathers.  This 
may  be  partially  explained  on  the  supposition  that 
the  children  of  the  Russians  are  younger  because 
Russian  immigration  is  newer. 

The  war  increased  wages  tremendously;  the  or 
dinary  day  laborer  who  had  been  getting  two  to 
three  dollars  a  day  (in  Bridgeport,  Youngstown, 
Cleveland  and  other  centers)  during  the  war 
reached  as  high  as  forty  or  more  cents  an  hour.  By 
means  of  a  large  output  and  overtime  rates  some 
of  the  men  received  as  high  as  fifty  dollars  a  week. 
But  after  the  war  the  earnings  of  Russians  began  to 
drop  again.  A  study  of  95  single  Russians  in  Chi 
cago  in  1919  revealed  the  fact  that  they  were 
making  from  12  to  30  dollars  a  week.  The  over 
whelming  majority  and  the  average  number  earned 
23  dollars.  Of  112  Russians  studied  in  this  same 
report,  10,  or  9.4  per  cent,  were  out  of  employment 
and  had  been  so  from  three  weeks  to  four  months. 

33  Abstract,  vol.  i,  table  26,  op.  cit.,  p.  371. 


44  The  Russian  Immigrant 

They  claimed  discrimination  on  account  of  their 
nationality.34  In  Pittsburgh  in  1920  the  writer 
found  that  the  average  Russian  workman  received 
from  $25-30  a  week,  but  this  does  not  take  into 
account  time  lost  from  shutdown,  sickness  and  other 
causes.  In  the  next  chapter  we  shall  discuss  the 
standard  of  living  which  the  Russian  maintains. 
The  amount  he  saves,  however,  because  of  his 
frugality  and  thrift  is  at  least  a  partial  indication  of 
whether  his  pay  is  more  than  enough  to  meet  the 
standards  he  is  willing  to  endure. 

No  matter  how  much  the  Russians  were  earn 
ing,  we  know  that  a  good  many  were  saving  money. 
From  July  i,  1913  to  June  30,  1914,  54-6,775  postal 
money  orders  totaling  $13,469,839.02  were  sent 
to  Russia  or  an  average  of  about  $24.60  per  or 
der.35  Because  of  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  the 
amount  in  subsequent  years  was  not  significant. 
The  statistics  of  the  money  sent  through  the  Russian 
Consul  General  in  New  York  are : 

Average 
Remittance 

for  the 
For  Deposit       For  Friends          Total        Two  Years 

1916   $359,7ii-55       $38,311-76       $    395,023.31         $151 

1917   776,265-48         283,993.95         1,060,259.43 

But  since  some  send  twice  in  the  year,  the  consul 
believes  that  the  yearly  average  per  person  making 
remittances  in  1916  was  much  more  and  in  1917, 
nearly  double.  The  Russian  Embassy  undertook  an 

34  Cole,  unpublished  study,  cf.  supra,  p.  34. 

85  U.  S.  Post  Office  Dept,  Annual  Reports,  1914,  p.  360. 


Environing  Economic  Forces  45 

investigation  of  the  financial  condition  of  the  Rus 
sians  in  America  in  November,  1918  under  the  direc 
tion  of  Professor  C.  V.  Cayman  who  visited  the 
various  colonies  and  secured  first-hand  information 
from  Russian  individuals  and  banks.  His  report 
though  never  published  contains  financial  estimates 
of  value.  He  found  that  the  average  amount 
of  money  per  individual  sent  to  Russia  yearly 
through  private  banks  was  $250.  Now  of  course 
these  figures  include  the  Jews  who  are  more  prosper 
ous  than  the  average  Russian  laborer.  Moreover, 
Mr.  Gayman  believes  that  they  represent  only  one 
quarter  of  the  total  Russian  group.  Even  so,  they 
indicate  a  probability  that  the  other  Russians  were 
also  saving. 

At  the  second  general  (Syezd)  meeting  of  Russian 
organizations  held  in  New  York  City  on  the  I3th 
of  December,  1918,  eighty  of  the  two  hundred 
or  more  delegates  had  an  average  of  $900  in  the 
bank.  The  others  did  not  give  the  amount  of  their 
savings.  Of  course  all  the  delegates  represented 
some  organization  and  were  presumably  above  the 
average  Russian  working  man.  Mr.  Gayman  esti 
mates  that  Russians  without  families  are  able  to 
deposit  $250  each  year.  Mr.  Vilchur  states  that  in 
1917  the  average  Russian  was  saving  from  20-25 
dollars  a  month; 36  but  since  the  war  this  has  been 
greatly  reduced.  Mr.  Cole  in  his  Chicago  report 
found  that  out  of  112  Russians,  all  of  whom  had 

36  Vilchur,  M.,  The  Russians  in  America,  op.  cit.,  p.  68  . 


46  The  Russian  Immigrant 

been  saving  before  the  war,  only  twenty  were  able 
to  do  so  in  1919.  In  traveling  among  the  Russian 
colonies,  the  writer  found  conditions  varying  in  this 
respect,  but  in  general,  most  of  the  single  Russians 
save  something.  All  claim  that  it  is  much  less  than 
before  the  war.  This  is  in  large  measure  due  to 
higher  standards  of  living  acquired  during  the  period 
of  high  war  wages,  to  lowered  wages,  and  still  more, 
to  irregularities  of  employment.  The  steel  strike 
exhausted  the  savings  of  thousands  of  Russians, 
and  the  fact  that  the  coal  miners  were  working  but 
a  few  hours  a  day  during  most  of  the  spring  of 
1920,  also  had  its  effect  on  the  conditions  as  the 
writer  saw  them.  The  banks  interviewed  claimed 
that  single  Russians  who  had  accounts,  saved  about 
$20  a  month,  but  they  admitted  that  those  who 
patronized  the  banks  were  only  a  small  percentage 
of  the  total  Russian  community.  Data  which  seem 
to  cast  some  doubt  on  the  reliability  of  the  consensus 
of  opinion  already  given,  are  found  in  the  results 
of  the  careful  investigation  made  by  the  Ford  Motor 
Company  in  1917.  Among  1138  Russian  work 
men,  917  had  no  bank  account  although  this  company 
has  the  reputation  of  paying  high  wages.37  It  is 
probable  that  some  were  not  banking  their  money 
and  in  any  case  229  were  paying  for  the  purchase 
of  homes.  The  average  amount  on  deposit,  of  the 
221  who  had  bank  accounts,  was  $563.  It  must 

37  From  a  personal  statement  to  the  author  by  the  head  of  the 
Welfare  Department  of  the  Ford  Company. 


Environing  Economic  Forces  47 

not  be  forgotten,  however,  that  even  not  counting 
those  who  were  buying  a  home,  over  half  had  no 
money  in  the  bank  even  in  a  period  of  war  wages. 
Since  the  statistics  record  715  as  married,  it  may 
be  that  those  constituting  this  half  were  supporting 
families  either  here  or  abroad. 

Banks 

Formerly,  many  of  the  Russians  kept  their  money 
with  private  individuals,  mostly  Jews,  but  today  they 
more  frequently  deposit  it  in  some  sort  of  private 
banking  institution.  In  every  large  city  there  are 
a  large  number  of  small  "Russian"  banks  operated 
usually  by  Jews.  New  ones  open  and  others  close 
every  year  so  that  the  number  in  any  city  at  a  given 
time  is  difficult  to  ascertain.  In  Detroit,  for  in 
stance,  22  banks  for  Russians  were  opened  during 
the  war.38  The  activities  of  these  banks  cover  a 
wide  range.  They  may,  i-accept  savings,  2-buy, 
sell  and  exchange  Russian  rubles,  3~send  money  to 
Russia,  4-buy  and  sell  Liberty  Bonds  and  Russian 
Loans,  5-sell  steamship  tickets,  6-act  as  notaries 
public  for  affidavits  required  for  military  service, 
passports,  or  steamship  tickets,  7-give  information 
and  help  on  any  of  the  following: 

(a)  recommend  doctors  and  lawyers, 

(b)  lend  money  or  write  insurance, 

(c)  give  addresses  of  relatives  in  America, 

88  Mr.  Cayman's  investigation.     Cf.  supra,  p.  45. 


48  The  Russian  Immigrant 

(d)  give  addresses  of  Russian-American  firms, 

(e)  find  the  location  of  refugees,  runaways,  or  prisoners, 

(f)  typewrite  letters, 

(g)  send  money  to  friends  in  America. 

These  banks  resort  to  all  manner  of  practices  to 
get  patronage.  They  advertise  in  all  the  Russian 
papers,  they  locate  in  a  Russian  section  of  the  city, 
they  use  the  flashiest  American  methods  of  street 
advertising,  they  keep  open  holidays  until  nine  in 
the  evening,  and  will  often  employ  agents  in  nearby 
places  where  there  is  no  bank.  But  besides  these 
methods  they  try  in  other  ways  to  make  themselves 
indispensable  to  the  Russian.  Many  of  them,  as  for 
example,  Salynak  in  Cleveland  keep  the  addresses 
of  all  the  Russians  in  the  city.  Others  permit  their 
bank  room  to  be  used  for  public  lectures  and  meet 
ings  in  Russian,  which  will  draw  the  colony  to  their 
places  of  business.  Sometimes  they  will  go  to  the 
extent  of  arranging  a  lecture.39  Occasionally  they 
provide  free  billiards  to  attract  customers.  Mr. 
Gayman  says  that  he  knows  of  a  bank  in  Cleveland 
which  has  even  permitted  prostitutes  to  occupy  the 
basement  in  order  that  the  bank  may  draw  a  still 
wider  clientele  of  victims. 

It  is  obvious  that  banks  which  are  operating  in 
these  ways  are  not  in  the  business  for  anything  ex 
cept  profit.  Many  of  them  go  through  voluntary 
bankruptcy  in  order  to  secure  large  secret  profits.  In 

;{9  The  Spiri  Bank  tried  to  get  Professor  Gayman  to  lecture  on 
South  America  in  their  bank. 


Environing  Economic  Forces  49 

1917  alone,  in  Chicago  there  were  fourteen  of  these 
failures.40  The  Russian  immigrant  has  rarely  had 
experience  with  banking  facilities  and  thinks  that  if 
his  money  is  returned  to  him,  that  is  all  he  should 
desire.  The  banks  take  advantage  of  this  fact  and 
rarely  pay  interest,  besides  taking  an  excessive  profit 
on  buying,  selling,  or  exchanging  Russian  and  Ameri 
can  money.  In  every  one  the  writer  visited,  the 
quotations  were  always  several  points  dearer  to  the 
customer  than  in  the  reputable  American  institutions. 
The  investigation  conducted  by  the  New  York 
World  and  printed  in  that  newspaper  during  Decem 
ber  1920,  also  corroborated  that  fact.  One  bank  in 
San  Francisco  even  went  the  length  of  giving  out 
counterfeit  rubles  to  those  returning  to  Russia. 

Sometimes  the  banks  accept  money  to  send  to  Rus 
sia  when  they  know  it  cannot  be  delivered,  as  for 
example,  in  territory  occupied  by  the  Germans  or 
the  Bolsheviks.  Methods  illustrated  by  the  follow 
ing  show  the  criminal  practices  sometimes  resorted 
to.  Through  its  own  lawyers,  a  bank  may  spread  the 
rumor  little  by  little  that  it  is  insolvent.  A  run 
on  the  bank  occurs  and  the  establishment  closes  its 
doors.  The  lawyers  having  now  won  the  confidence 
of  the  Russian  workmen  depositors,  obligingly  offer 
to  get  back  fifty  per  cent  of  their  money.  Most 
of  the  Russians  fall  into  the  trap  and  the  lawyers 
then  divide  the  remainder  with  the  bank.  Accord- 

40  Mr.  Cayman's  investigation.     Cf.  supra,  p.  45. 


50  The  Russian  Immigrant 

ing  to  the  study  conducted  by  Mr.  Cayman,  there 
were  in  1919  suits  against  such  banks  to  the  amount 
of  two  million  dollars  in  Baltimore  alone.  Although 
this  figure  must  certainly  include  action  on  behalf 
of  many  who  were  not  Russian  Slavs,  it  does  give 
some  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  exploitation.  The 
worst  feature  of  the  matter  is  that  many  of  the 
Russians  when  they  have  been  thus  exploited  feel 
that  it  is  the  fault  of  America,  and  they  treasure 
up  this  added  grievance,  while  in  reality  it  may  be  a 
foreigner  who  has  done  the  deed.  uThe  people  of 
foreign  countries,"  said  the  Hon.  C.  J.  Keenan, 
Deputy  Appraiser  of  the  Port  of  New  York, 
"generally  look  upon  a  bank  as  a  government 
institution,  which  accounts  for  the  practice  so  preva 
lent  among  them  of  patronizing  private  banking 
institutions  after  they  come  to  this  country.  An 
enterprising  foreign-born  citizen  will  oftentimes, 
after  reaching  a  certain  stage  of  prosperity,  open  a 
bank  with  the  legend  'State  Bank'  over  the  door."  41 
Naturally  whatever  happens  in  this  bank  is  at 
tributed  to  the  government. 

The  reason  why  the  Russians  do  not,  to  any 
extent,  patronize  our  sound  financial  institutions 
such  as  national  or  postal  savings  banks  is  that  most 
of  these  do  not  have  Russian  interpreters  and  do  not 
try  to  reach  the  Russian  through  foreign  language 
advertising.  In  cities  where  a  large  bank  has  at- 

41  Davis,    Immigration    and    Americanization     (Boston,    1920), 
p.  730. 


Environing  Economic  Forces  5 1 

tempted  to  secure  Russian  business  in  these  ways 
it  has  usually  succeeded  and  some  have  in  the  aggre 
gate  very  large  deposits  from  such  sources. 

But  it  seems  probable  that  more  Russians  have 
been  exploited  by  dishonest  agencies  than  have  been 
helped  by  reliable  banks.  On  the  whole,  the  experi 
ence  of  the  Russian  with  financial  institutions  here 
has  not  been  so  favorable  as  to  increase  his  respect 
and  admiration  for  America. 

Conditions  on  the  Farms 

Here  and  there  throughout  America  are  to  be 
found  Russians  who  have  either  broken  away  from 
the  industrial  world  or  else  have  gone  directly  into 
agriculture.  The  conditions  confronting  them  have 
often  been  severe  at  the  start,  but,  with  a  fair  chance, 
their  love  of  the  soil  and  untiring  industry  have 
carried  them  through.  For  example,  the  colony  of 
Stundists  in  North  Dakota  now  numbers  over 
10,000.  They  even  have  their  own  little  towns,  one 
of  which  is  named  after  Kiev,  in  Russia.  Their  ven 
ture  has  become  a  marked  success  and  the  colony  is 
deeply  loyal  to  America. 

There  are  other  settlements  in  South  Dakota, 
California,  Arizona,  New  Mexico,  and  Texas.  Flor 
ida,  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Michigan  also  have  a  few. 
In  Virginia  there  is  a  colony  of  about  fifty  families, 
nearly  every  one  of  which  has  one  thousand  dollars 
in  the  bank  and  some  have  property  worth  fifty  to 


52  The  Russian  Immigrant 

seventy  thousand  dollars.42  Most  of  the  families 
own  their  own  houses  which  are  built  after  the  Amer 
ican  style. 

The  attempts  at  farming  have  not  all  been  suc 
cessful,  it  is  true.  Where  the  soil  has  been  very 
poor  or  in  cases  of  deception  and  fraud,  the  Russian 
has  gone  back  to  industry.  To  cite  but  one  instance, 
a  Russian  workman  in  California  writing  to  a  gov 
ernment  bureau  about  his  experience  said,  "I  do  not 
dream  of  buying  a  farm  any  more.  I  have  tried  it 
twice."  The  first  time  he  was  swindled  out  of  his 
money  with  a  forged  document.  The  second  time, 
a  seemingly  official  "Russian  American  agent"  in  Salt 
Lake  City  who  showed  fine  specimens  of  fruit  and 
vegetables,  and  "photographs  of  good  cattle  and 
splendid  fields,"  offered  this  land  at  $25  an  acre. 
So  he  with  other  Russians  sold  their  houses  and 
bought  the  property. 

When  we  arrived  we  found  a  waterless  desert.  Several 
returned  immediately  seeing  their  mistake  but  about  thirty 
families  remained,  tilling  the  soil  and  suffering  hunger. 
Soon  they  saw  what  they  had  planted  did  not  grow,  and 
were  obliged  to  leave  everything  and  go  to  the  nearest  cities 
in  order  to  earn  money.  That  is  what  happens  to  the  Rus 
sian  people  in  America.43 

Some  of  the  Russians  are  more  shrewd  and  send 


42  Mr.  Cayman's  investigation.     Cf.  supra.,  p.  45. 

43  From  a  letter  written  to  the  Governmental  Information  Bureau 
of  the  Committee  on  Public  Information,  of  which  the  writer  has  a 
copy. 


Environing  Economic  Forces  53 

one  of  their  number  to  see  the  property  before  pur 
chasing  it,  but  even  then  they  occasionally  are 
cheated  through  legal  technicalities. 

Those  Russians  who  do  locate  on  good  soil 
usually  believe  in  America.  The  contrast  with  the 
tyrannical  conditions  in  Russia  is  so  great  that  they 
are  happy.  M.  I.  Wolkoff,  a  Russian  professor  in 
the  College  of  Agriculture  of  the  University  of 
Illinois,  testifies  that  the  Russians  on  the  land  are 
"the  most  contented"  of  any  in  America.  "They 
are  much  better  off  financially  than  their  city  coun 
trymen,  and  perhaps  this  is  one  of  the  chief  rea 
sons."  44  Undoubtedly  another  is  that  they  are  free 
to  work  as  they  please  and  are  engaged  in  an  occu 
pation  which  they  like.  On  the  land,  moreover, 
although  somewhat  isolated  from  Americans  since 
they  tend  to  settle  in  groups,  they  at  least  see  a 
favorable  side  of  our  country.  It  is  therefore  to 
be  regretted  that  those  engaged  in  agriculture  are 
but  a  small  fraction  of  the  number  here.  Russian 
authorities  estimate  that  over  90  per  cent  of  the 
Russians  in  the  United  States  are  working  in  our 
industries  and  mines.45  The  very  fact  that  the  Rus 
sians  can  be  made  to  like  America  so  easily  if  they 
have  a  fair  chance,  together  with  the  fact  that  we 
sorely  need  agricultural  workers,  makes  it  seem  all 
the  more  deplorable  that  little  is  done  to  assist  them 


44  Letter  to  the  author. 

45  The  Secretary  to  the  Russian  Consul  General,  E.  I.  Hourwich, 
M.  Vilchur,  and  others. 


54  The  Russian  Immigrant 

to  become  farmers  or  to  make  them  more  contented 
in  industry. 

Conclusion 

In  this  chapter  we  have  been  describing  the  reac 
tions  of  the  typical  Russian  worker.  It  is  true, 
there  are  some  industries  and  some  instances  even 
in  steel  and  coal  mining  where  the  Russian  is  happy 
and  successful  in  his  work.  But  as  we  have  seen, 
the  majority  are  plunged  into  an  environment  to 
tally  at  variance  with  their  European  background. 
The  economic  forces  in  the  situation  provide  little 
outlet  for  their  legitimate  instinctive  responses. 
Especially  does  their  situation  give  little  opportunity 
for  what  Giddings  calls  the  "desire  for  recognition'* 
or  for  what  McDougall  speaks  of  as  self-assertion 
and  Thorndike  as  mastery.  The  lowest  of  the  labor 
group,  they  feel  that  regardless  of  how  well  or  faith 
fully  they  work  there  is  no  opportunity  for  them  to 
rise;  that  they  will  always  be  looked  down  on  by 
Americans.  '  This  fact,  and  the  total  absence  of  in 
formation  about  the  men  higher  up,  together  with  a 
growing  conviction  that  their  human  side  is  totally 
disregarded,  is  what  Russian  workers  have  so  often 
tried  to  express  to  the  writer.  The  solitary  favor 
able  factor,  the  amount  of  the  wage,  is  too  often 
destroyed  by  exploiting  or  dishonest  banks  or  agen 
cies  which  swindle  the  hard  working  and  thrifty  ones 
out  of  their  earnings.  It  is  true,  moreover,  that  as 


Environing  Economic  Forces  55 

fast  as  they  adopt  American  standards,  their  margin 
of  savings  dwindles  or  disappears. 

American  industry  has  rendered  a  tremendous 
service  in  giving  employment  to  aliens  from  other 
lands  where  poverty,  disease  and  tyranny  prevail, 
and  in  turning  out  more  goods  than  any  other 
nation  and  thus  enriching  the  entire  world.  Yet  we 
must  remember  that  the  great  structure  of  American 
industry  has  been  built  upon  the  brawn,  indeed,  the 
very  lives  of  foreigners.  Business  men  and  writers 
agree  that  Americans  would  hardly  be  willing  at  any 
price  to  do  the  work  these  foreign-born  are  doing. 
Since  we  sorely  need  what  they  have  to  give,  is  it 
any  more  than  just  that  the  economic  forces  which 
condition  their  success  as  workers  and  their  well- 
being  as  men  should  be  a  help  rather  than  a  hin 
drance? 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    RUSSIAN    IN    HIS    HOME    ENVIRONMENT 

WE  have  glanced  briefly  at  the  influences  which 
mold  the  Russian's  life  in  the  economic  world.  As 
we  turn  now  to  his  social  environment,  one  of  the 
outstanding  facts  is  that  he  is  effectively  cut  off  from 
most  of  our  own  contacts  with  American  life. 

Isolation 

In  nearly  every  city  the  Russians  live  in  a  group 
by  themselves.  When  they  first  come  to  a  com 
munity  they  naturally  gravitate  to  the  poorest  sec 
tions  where  rents  are  cheapest.  A  process  of  segre 
gation  results,  for  race  prejudice,  strange  customs, 
and  language  barriers  all  make  the  American  loath 
to  live  close  to  these  Slavic  immigrants.  Hetero 
geneous  America  has,  to  some  extent,  a  social  strati 
fication  based  on  likenesses  in  income  and  nationality. 
Once  a  district  has  begun  to  be  invaded  by  the  Rus 
sians,  Americans  avoid  it  and  other  Russians  follow 
where  their  own  kind  already  are.  Usually  the  Rus 
sian-speaking  Jews  settle  in  a  locality  first  and  are 
followed  by  the  Russian  Slavs.  Thus  Pittsburgh 
has  her  Soho  District  and  the  neighborhood  around 
Pennsylvania  Avenue  and  Mulberry  Street.  Even 
in  the  mining  towns,  the  Russian  shacks  tend  to 

56 


The  Russian  in  His  Home  Environment       57 

crowd  together  into  a  definite  group.  Like  follows 
like.  This  sociological  law  is  as  true  to-day  as  it 
was  when  the  ancient  maxim  about  "birds  of  a 
feather"  first  found  expression.  The  Russian  dis 
trict  is  peopled  almost  entirely  by  the  foreign-born, 
and  whether  it  be  housing  accommodations,  food 
supplies,  or  medical  aid  that  the  immigrant  seeks,  he 
is  likely  to  meet  the  foreigner  almost  exclusively. 
Yet  his  impressions  and  opinion  of  America  become 
deeply  affected  by  his  experience  in  these  "alien" 
centers. 

Housing 

Housing  conditions  vary  according  to  the  colony. 
In  the  agricultural  districts,  where  the  Russians  are 
not  migratory  workers,  they  usually  own  their  own 
dwellings.  Many  of  these  houses  may  be  favorably 
compared  with  those  of  Americans.  In  the  mining 
communities  the  Russians  rent  and  occasionally  buy 
small  houses.  In  the  study  of  Russian  households 
which  was  made  by  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commis 
sion  in  1909^  out  of  83  studied  only  one  house  was 
owned  by  the  occupant.  Since  then,  however,  the 
percentage  may  have  increased  considerably.  For 
instance,  among  50  Russian  families  investigated  in 
Los  Angeles  in  1915,  26  owned  their  own  homes.2 
The  average  value  was  about  two  thousand  dollars. 
In  1917  in  Detroit,  among  the  1160  Russian  em- 

*  Abstract,  vol.  i,  table  89,  op.  cit.,  p.  467. 

2  Sokoloff,  L.,  The  Russians  in  Los  Angeles  (Los  Angeles,  1918), 
p.  6. 


58  The  Russian  Immigrant 

ployees  of  the  Ford  plant,  eighteen  owned  their  own 
homes  and  229  were  buying  theirs — a  fact  which  is 
considered  exceptional.  As  is  usually  the  case  where 
the  tenants  are  the  owners,  the  houses  are  in  better 
repair,  are  cleaner  and  more  sanitary  than  rented 
ones,  possibly  because  those  who  buy  are  the  more 
progressive  foreigners.  The  great  majority  of  Rus 
sians,  however,  still  live  in  rented  rooms  in  tenement 
houses. 

Because  overcrowding  is  common  in  the  home 
land,  Russians  are  willing  to  accept  similar  or  worse 
conditions  here.  In  the  United  States  Immigration 
Commission's  study,3  out  of  75  Russian  households 
there  was  an  average  of  2.85  persons  per  sleeping 
room,  the  general  average  for  the  total  foreign-born 
being  2.53.  Mr.  Cole  in  his  Chicago  study  of  1919* 
found  that  only  35  per  cent  of  the  single  Russians 
and  1 8  per  cent  of  the  family  Russians  had  in  their 
sleeping  rooms  the  400  cubic  feet  of  air  per  person 
required  by  the  city  ordinance.  In  the  same  report 
he  states  that  out  of  30  apartments  occupied  by  Rus 
sians  there  was  an  average  of  7.2  individuals  living 
in  an  average  apartment  of  4.3  rooms.  Eleven  of 
these  were  front  apartments,  while  14  were  in  the 
rear;  four  occupied  a  whole  floor  and  one  was  in  the 
center.  Sixty  of  85  rooms  had  only  one  window 
each,  23  had  two,  one  had  four,  and  one  alcove  room 
had  none.  Approximately  half  were  so  dark  or 

9  Abstract,  vol.  i,  table  72,  op.  cit.,  p.  430. 
4  Cf.  supra,  chap,  iii,  p.  34. 


The  Russian  in  His  Home  Environment       59 

gloomy  that  on  a  bright  day  one  could  not  read  in 
the  center  of  the  room.  Eighteen  families  had 
toilets  in  their  own  apartments.  Eleven  had  hall 
toilets,  shared  by  eight  to  nineteen  neighbors,  and 
one  had  the  toilet  in  the  yard,  which  was  also  used 
by  twelve  outsiders.  Only  two  of  the  thirty  had  a 
bath  tub ;  in  one  of  these  cases  the  tub  was  used  for 
laundry  purposes.  The  author's  investigation  in  the 
various  Russian  communities  showed  that  the  over 
whelming  number  of  Russians  are  living  in  the  worst 
type  of  tenement  apartments.  These  have  but  few 
windows  and  no  baths.  The  homes  occupied  by  Rus 
sian  workers  employed  at  the  Ford  plant  in  Detroit 
in  1917  were  an  exception.  Out  of  1160,  978  had 
good  homes,  157  fair  and  25  poor.5  As  the  chief 
standard  here  considered,  however,  was  cleanliness, 
and  as  the  Ford  plant  attracts  the  best  type  of 
worker,  this  does  not  necessarily  imply  that  there 
was  no  overcrowding  or  that  these  cases  are  typical. 
The  homes  seen  in  Pittsburgh  are  perhaps  a  fairer 
sample.  In  one  apartment  of  three  rooms,  a  Rus 
sian  family  of  five  was  paying  $17  a  month.  This 
was  to  be  increased  to  $20  on  May  i,  1920.  There 
was  one  inside  room  where  all  the  family  slept, 
which  was  entirely  without  windows  and  was  heated 
by  an  ill-smelling  gas  stove.  The  second  room  was 
used  by  five  boarders,  each  of  whom  paid  six  dollars 
a  month  for  the  privilege.  The  other  was  a  kitchen, 
laundry,  and  living  room  all  in  one.  In  one  apart- 

6  From  an  investigation  made  by  the  Ford  Company  in  1917. 


60  The  Russian  Immigrant 

ment  of  four  rooms  in  a  frame  tenement  near  the 
steel  mills  the  family,  consisting  of  father,  mother, 
and  four  children,  slept  in  one  room  and  seven  men 
slept  in  the  other  three.  All  the  windows  were 
closed,  and  the  floor  served  as  a  common  spitoon. 
The  rent  for  the  bare  dilapidated  rooms  without 
heat  was  $  1 8  a  month.  Large  cracks  in  the  wall  were 
stuffed  with  rags,  a  motley  array  of  clothes  was 
hanging  in  the  room  to  dry.  This  was  representative 
of  many  apartments  in  Pittsburgh.6 

Michael  M.  Davis  in  his  study  of  Immigrant 
Health  and  the  Community  for  the  Carnegie  Amer 
icanization  studies  describes  the  various  types  of 
tenements  inhabited  by  foreigners  and  concludes, 
'Wretched  and  unsanitary  housing  is  not  the  immi 
grants'  responsibility  alone.  The  native  American 
must  bear  a  large  share  of  the  blame."  He  gives 
a  fair  picture  of  the  Russian  huts  in  some  of  the 
mining  districts:  "The  coal  and  iron  mining  regions 
of  the  country  to  which  so  many  of  the  Finns  and 
Slavic  peoples  turn,  show  some  of  our  worst  housing 
conditions.  Shacks  are  built  both  by  individuals 
and  by  mining  companies  close  to  mine  shafts,  pits 
and  coke  ovens.  Tin  cans,  tar  paper,  and  old  boards 
furnish  building  materials  for  crazy  shelters.  Into 
one  or  more  small  rooms  crowd  the  large  families 
of  the  workmen.  Toilets  are  either  absent,  or  else 


6  According  to  the  statement  of  the  Russian  worker  at  the  Inter 
nationa]  Institute.  The  writer,  himself,  saw  at  least  ten  of  this 
description,  out  of  forty  or  more  visited. 


The  Russian  in  His  Home  Environment       61 

miserable  privies  are  erected  and  neglected.  Out 
door  pumps  furnish  water,  and  the  ground  surface 
serves  as  a  sewer."  7 

In  some  construction  and  laboring  work  the  com 
panies  still  provide  barracks  for  the  men.  Although 
they  vary  considerably,  perhaps  the  following  quota 
tion  describing  foreign  bunk-houses  which  sometimes 
contained  36  men  in  3-tier  bunks,  from  Francis  A. 
Kellor,  the  secretary  of  the  Inter-Racial  Council,  is 
typical.  "These  are  rather  dark,  having  been  fin 
ished  in  creosote  to  keep  down  the  vermin.  Some 
are  heated  with  stoves,  all  built  upon  posts,  not  very 
clean — and  represent  an  outlay  of  $20  per  employee 
housed,  exclusive  of  ground  and  ground  improve 
ments.  There  is  a  sink  outside  with  sewer  connec 
tions  for  slops,  and  shower  baths  and  toilets  at  the 
end  of  each  row."  8  Several  college  graduates  who 
worked  in  the  lumber  camps  of  Washington  in  1920 
gave  similar  descriptions  but  added  that  the  bar 
racks  were  never  cleaned,  so  that  a  shovel  would 
have  been  more  effective  than  a  broom.  Where 
they  worked,  moreover,  there  were  no  shower  baths. 
The  Russian  priest  in  Cleveland  even  tells  of  one 
of  his  families  which  lives  in  a  freight  car,  and  of 
his  christening  a  baby  born  there.  The  writer  has 
interviewed  several  groups  of  single  Russians  who 
were  living  in  similar  lodgings,  but  these  are  excep 
tional.  In  every  such  case  they  were  working  for 

7  From  a  manuscript  copy  transmitted  to  the  author. 

8  The  Immigrants  in  America  Review,  April,  1916. 


62  The  Russian  Immigrant 

the  railroad  and  when  they  left  the  company's  em 
ploy  had  to  leave  their  domicile. 

The  accommodations  of  Russians  in  New  York 
are  perhaps  more  varied  than  in  most  other  cities. 
But  if  one  cares  to  visit  the  throbbing,  dusty  district 
of  lower  Second  Avenue  and  has  the  courage  to 
enter  one  of  the  small  side  doors  and  to  climb  a 
dark,  narrow  stairway  of  two  flights,  he  can  see  one 
type.  The  plaster  is  cracked  and  here  and  there  are 
spots  where  it  has  broken  off,  thus  adding  to  the 
dust  on  the  floor.  The  apartment  consists  of  one 
room  about  ten  by  fourteen  feet  and  an  alcove  seven 
by  six  feet  shut  off  by  heavy  curtains  and  containing 
a  double  bed.  The  room  has  two  windows  opening 
on  a  fire  escape,  but  the  alcove  bedroom  has  none. 
For  this  room — including  only  the  bare  walls  and 
the  sink — eleven  dollars  a  month  are  paid.  The 
small  coal  stove,  the  few  chairs,  a  cheap  chiffonier 
and  the  bed,  all  belong  to  the  family.  Of  course 
there  is  no  toilet  except  the  one  in  the  hall  which 
is  shared  by  the  other  families.  The  apartments 
on  Cherry  Street  are  in  a  poorer  locality,  the  refuse 
on  the  streets  is  scattered  about,  and  the  saloons 
still  sell  cheap  liquor.9  While  some  of  the  apart 
ments  are  worse  than  those  already  described,  the 
majority  are  larger,  but  have  more  dark  rooms  and 
a  generous  assortment  of  lodgers  who  fill  up  the 
extra  space. 

In  Boston  the  living  conditions  of  the  Russians 

9  February,  1921. 


The  Russian  in  His  Home  Environment       63 

resemble  those  we  have  described;  the  rooms  and 
corridors  are  dark,  with  little  ventilation  and  much 
overcrowding.  There  is  the  usual  common  toilet 
and  in  some  cases  the  apartments  do  not  even  have 
running  water.  One  Russian,  speaking  before  the 
Volstead  Act  became  operative,  expressed  his  reac 
tion  to  the  conditions  by  saying,  "We  don't  see 
anything  but  saloons,  and  factories,  and  bad  housing 
in  America." 

There  are,  of  course,  communities  where  the 
housing  conditions  are  much  better,  such  as  those 
we  have  mentioned  in  California  and  Detroit.  But 
it  is  obvious  that  the  vast  majority  of  places  present 
a  decided  contrast  to  the  villages  of  Russia.  There, 
in  spite  of  dirt,  at  least  the  open  fields  were  near 
and  sunshine  and  fresh  air  abundant.  The  priest  in 
Hartford  reports  that  some  of  the  more  energetic 
Russians  in  his  locality  are  so  desirous  of  getting 
reasonable  lodgings  in  the  country  that  they  will 
rent  places  in  New  Hampshire,  thus  necessitating 
three  changes  of  electric  cars  in  reaching  their  work. 
Besides  this  they  must  get  up  at  four  in  the  morn 
ing  and  do  not  return  till  nearly  ten  at  night;  but 
each  one  has  a  little  garden  which  adds  to  the  at 
traction  of  the  Sunday  holiday.  The  majority  ac 
cept  the  bad  housing  as  one  of  the  handicaps  to  life 
in  America. 

One  can  hardly  wonder  that  Dr.  John  Kulzzyszki, 
a  practicing  Ukranian  physician  in  Scranton  told 
the  author: 


64  The  Russian  Immigrant 

The  greatest  thing  that  America  can  do  for  the  foreigners 
is  to  control  the  renting  of  houses.  Americans  build  holes 
which  are  not  fit  for  the  pigs  to  live  in,  and  rent  them  out 
to  Russians.  People  say  the  Russians  live  badly  because 
they  live  that  way  in  Russia,  but  there  they  were  compelled 
to  live  so;  here  they  should  have  a  chance  to  improve. 

Undoubtedly,  part  of  the  blame  for  these  condi 
tions  is  due  to  the  lack  of  initiative  of  the  Russians, 
but  certainly  it  is  no  credit  to  our  social  order  that 
more  is  not  done  to  help  educate  them  to  better 
standards,  or  to  compel  the  American  owners  to 
make  decency  possible  for  their  tenants.  That  the 
housing  conditions  provided  for  the  Russians  were 
just  as  poor  as  the  owners  dared  to  have  them,  was 
the  opinion  of  the  United  States  Immigration  Com 
missioner  in  Pittsburgh. 

Frequently  the  person  who  collects  the  rent  may 
be  a  foreigner,  but  as  the  Russians  say,  "How  can 
we  tell?  He  speaks  English,  he  is  an  American  to 
us."  The  agent,  according  to  the  Russians,  rarely 
agrees  to  make  any  improvements,  although  they 
may  be  sorely  needed.  Few  tenants  dare  to  insist, 
for  they  may  receive  a  request  for  an  increase  of 
rent  by  way  of  reply.  One  priest  told  me  his  expe 
rience  with  these  agents : 

When  they  are  Americans  they  are  very  polite  as  long 
as  they  think  they  can  get  your  money.  One  insurance 
agent  crossed  himself  as  he  opened  my  door.  After  he  re 
ceived  my  order  he  went  out  slamming  the  door  and  spitting 


The  Russian  in  His  Home  Environment       65 

on  the  porch.  When  others  come  for  the  rent,  they  will 
offer  me  a  cigarette ;  when  they  have  no  business,  they  won't 
even  recognize  me  on  the  street. 

The  average  worker  does  not  care  especially  for 
recognition  by  an  agent,  but  often  he  isn't  treated 
even  decently,  and  if  he  is  at  all  delinquent  in  his 
payments  he  is  likely  to  find  himself  on  the  street. 

Not  only  does  this  isolation  and  bad  housing  sep 
arate  the  Russian  from  Americans,  but  he  feels  that 
he  is  regarded  as  an  inferior.  The  expansion  of 
his  consciousness  of  kind  to  include  Americans  is 
hindered  or  wholly  prevented.  Americans  do  not 
show  any  sympathy  for  him  nor  does  his  tenement 
life  give  opportunity  to  gratify  his  desire  for  a  rea 
sonable  amount  of  recognition.  The  Russian  sees 
little  opportunity  for  the  expression  of  his  ego  or 
of  his  pride  in  family  or  home.  Woodworth  be 
lieves  that  most  human  mechanisms,  once  aroused, 
are  capable  of  furnishing  their  own  drive  and  of 
lending  drive  to  other  connected  mechanisms.10  But 
as  we  have  already  seen,  the  mechanism  of  the  Rus 
sian  has  little  chance  in  his  daily  task  either  to  re 
spond  to  the  drive  of  certain  instincts  or  to  give 
expression  to  his  native  capacities.  These  instincts 
and  capacities  suppressed  in  the  industrial  field 
might  conceivably  find  an  outlet  in  his  home  life. 
But  here  he  is  living  in  a  sordid  environment  of 


10  Woodworth,  R.   S.,   Dynamic  Psychology    (N.  Y.,    1918),  pp. 
36-43- 


66  The  Russian  Immigrant 

cheap  tenements — ugly  or  dilapidated — with  their 
accompaniment  of  congestion,  noise,  and  dirt. 
Americans  look  askance  at  the  "Dagoes"  and  "Po- 
lacks."  The  Russian  feels  this  if  he  goes  into  an 
American  shop  to  trade;  he  notes  it  in  the  attitude 
of  the  rent  collector.  It  is  impossible  to  say  how 
far  this  condition  creates  in  the  Russian  a  dislike 
for  our  country,  but  it  is  one  decided  factor  which 
cannot  be  overlooked. 

No  matter  what  the  angle  of  approach  to  the 
housing  conditions  and  the  associations  incidental  to 
them,  the  conclusion  is  inevitable  that  a  large  ma 
jority  of  the  Russians  have  here  little  or  no  oppor 
tunity  for  favorable  contacts  with  Americans. 

Factors  Relating  to  Health 

The  Russian's  food  is  usually  purchased  in  a  Jew 
ish  grocery  or  meat  market  in  his  neighborhood. 
The  turnover  is  not  large  and  the  proprietor  makes 
as  much  as  the  traffic  will  bear.  As  tested  by  the 
writer,  prices  were  always  higher  for  the  same  qual 
ity  of  goods  than  in  the  better  grade  of  grocery 
stores  for  Americans.  It  was,  of  course,  extremely 
difficult  to  make  sure  of  the  same  quality,  but  it  was 
interesting  to  find  that  a  cheap  grade  of  butter  cost 
less  at  the  large  American  store  than  at  the  for 
eign  one. 

In  the  Jewish  grocery  the  same  brand  of  flour 
was  higher  per  pound,  while  certain  brands  of 
cereals  and  canned  goods  were  three  or  four  cents 


The  Russian  in  His  Home  Environment       67 

more.  Mr.  Sibray,  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commis 
sioner  in  Pittsburgh,  says  that  we  charge  the  for 
eigner  decidedly  more  than  we  charge  ourselves.  A 
Russian-Jewish  storekeeper  in  Detroit  explained 
that  these  high  prices  were  due  to  capitalistic  prof 
iteering,  and  Russian  workmen  seldom  account  for 
the  high  prices  in  any  other  way.  To  offset  them, 
the  small  shopkeepers  often  buy  food  of  the  lowest 
grade;  stale  meat  and  withered  vegetables.  The 
Russian  has  been  used  to  fresh  food,  the  products 
of  his  own  fields,  but  here  in  the  market,  accessible 
to  him,  the  same  articles  are  few,  old  and  expensive. 
He  is  likely  therefore  to  change  his  diet  to  one  con 
sisting  largely  of  meat  of  questionable  age,  the  qual 
ity  of  which  is  less  noticeable  to  him.  The  wife  of 
the  priest  in  Hartford  tells  of  seeing  one  Russian 
boarding-house  keeper  in  1920  buy  27  pounds  of 
meat  for  $1.50.  It  was  the  cheapest  there  was,  for 
the  butcher  picked  it  out  from  the  scraps  under  the 
table.  A  heavy  meat  diet  is  undoubtedly  responsible 
for  a  great  deal  of  digestive  trouble  among  the  Rus 
sians,  and  Jewish  doctors  with  whom  the  writer  con 
sulted  stated  that  this  malady  was  the  most  com 
mon  cause  of  complaint.  There  are  few  other  single 
factors  which  are  more  potent  in  contributing  to 
discontent  than  poor  food  and  a  disordered  stom 
ach.  In  giving  his  opinion  of  the  greatest  need  of 
the  Russians  to  a  government  bureau,  one  Russian 
from  Gary,  Indiana,  wrote,  uWe  need  fresh  food 
products  and  fresh  meat  and  there  is  no  such  meat 


68  The  Russian  Immigrant 

now  in  America."  "  He  judged,  of  course,  only 
from  his  own  limited  experience. 

Nearly  all  the  doctors  who  were  consulted  men 
tioned  tuberculosis  also  and  venereal  disease  as  ex 
isting,  but  perhaps  not  to  a  greater  extent  than 
among  other  races.  They  thought  that  the  factory 
work  with  its  absence  of  outdoor  healthful  labor 
and  its  contrast  to  field  work  cannot  but  increase 
the  prevalence  of  tuberculosis,  as  the  absence  of 
normal  family  life  has  increased  venereal  disease. 
The  fact  that,  as  a  rule,  only  the  strongest  Russians 
migrate  to  America  minimizes  the  prevalence  of  dis 
ease  to  an  extent  difficult  to  estimate.  It  seemed  to 
be  the  opinion  of  the  Russians  in  the  mining  and 
steel  industries  that  more  were  laid  off  on  account 
of  accidents  than  by  illness.  Statistics  by  nationality 
are  extremely  difficult  to  secure  from  the  hospitals, 
and  when  obtained  are  not  very  reliable  for  the  Rus 
sian,  since  so  many  patronize  private  doctors. 

A  study  conducted  by  Dr.  E.  H.  Lewinsky-Cor- 
win  under  the  auspices  of  the  New  York  Academy 
of  Medicine  in  1919  among  8,645  individuals  and 
2,023  families  of  which  357  families  and  1,692  indi 
viduals  were  Slavs,  showed  that  over  ten  per  cent 
of  the  Slavs  were  ill  at  the  time  of  the  investigation. 
This  was  double  the  percentage  for  the  Italians  and 
was,  next  to  the  Irish,  the  highest.  It  is  significant 
that  the  Slavs  used  the  dispensary  in  only  2.2  per 
cent  of  their  cases,  the  general  hospital  in  only  2.3 

11  From  a  letter  of  which  the  author  has  a  copy. 


The  Russian  in  His  Home  Environment       69 

per  cent  and  did  not  use  the  maternity  hospital  at 
all.  They  avail  themselves  of  institutional  help  less 
than  any  of  the  other  nationalities;  in  fact,  not  quite 
one  half  as  frequently  as  the  next  in  order,  the  Ital 
ians.  On  the  other  hand,  58.2  per  cent  secure  the 
services  of  private  physicians.  This  is  the  largest 
percentage  with  the  exception  of  the  Italians,  while 
in  35  per  cent  of  all  the  cases  they  utilize  a  mid 
wife,  a  druggist,  or  depend  on  themselves — a  higher 
proportion  than  in  any  other  group.  Considering 
only  confinement  cases,  87.5  per  cent  of  the  Slavs 
employed  a  midwife,  the  same  percentage  as  for  the 
Italians  and  more  than  for  any  other  race.  In 
minor  complaints  such  as  colds,  stomach  trouble  or 
being  "run  down,"  58  per  cent  of  the  Slavs  visited 
private  physicians,  more  than  any  other  nationality, 
and  only  1.7  per  cent  used  a  dispensary,  the  lowest 
percentage  of  all.  Of  the  remainder,  39.1  per  cent 
depended  upon  non-professional  care,  and  i.i  per 
cent  on  their  lodge  or  society  physician.12 

In  giving  their  reasons  for  not  going  to  a  dis 
pensary,  over  one-quarter  of  the  Slavs  said  they  did 
not  know  that  such  an  institution  existed,  while  the 
others  said  that  they  were  able  to  pay  a  private 
doctor,  or  that  they  could  not  speak  English,  or 
were  afraid,  or  were  dissatisfied  with  the  kind  of 
treatment  given,  or  that  there  was  no  dispensary 
near.  It  must  be  remembered  that  it  is  extremely 

12  Public    Health    Committee    of    the    New    York    Academy    of 
Medicine,  The  Problem  of  Disease  (N.  Y.,  1921),  pp.  1-23. 


70  The  Russian  Immigrant 

difficult  to  get  the  real  reasons  in  such  an  investiga 
tion  and  those  who  replied  that  they  were  able  to 
pay,  undoubtedly  had  other  unexpressed  objections 
to  using  a  dispensary.  Although  these  statistics  in 
cluded  other  Slavic  races  besides  the  Russian,  they 
corroborate  the  investigation  of  the  author.  Most 
Russian  Slavs  either  do  not  know  where  to  go  or 
have  never  even  heard  that  there  is  a  dispensary. 
Those  who  might  go  cannot  speak  English,  and  dis 
pensaries  and  hospitals  rarely  provide  interpreters. 
Some  seem  to  be  prejudiced,  fearing  that  they  will 
be  experimented  on  by  doctors  "who  do  not  care 
whether  we  get  well  or  die."  "If  you  go  to  the 
hospital  they  poison  you  and  cut  you  up  for  prac 
tice,"  is  a  saying  occasionally  heard.  One  man  even 
told  the  writer  that  in  the  case  of  a  friend  who  had 
gone  to  the  free  ward  the  doctor  had  used  a  hypo 
dermic  injection.  The  Russian  had  protested,  but 
the  doctor  replied  that  he  wanted  to  see  how  it 
would  work  on  him  anyway.  The  conclusion  of  the 
Russian,  although  apparently  erroneous,  was  that 
the  doctor  was  less  interested  in  curing  him  than  in 
experimenting  upon  him. 

The  effect  on  those  who  have  been  in  our  hos 
pitals  is  not  always  so  bad.  For  example,  a  Russian 
woman  on  Cherry  Street  in  New  York  City,  who 
has  lived  in  America  eighteen  years  and  can  yet 
speak  no  English  because  she  "has  not  met  Amer 
icans"  went  to  Gouverneur  Hospital.  Her  husband 
had  been  killed  four  years  before;  she  was  support- 


The  Russian  in  His  Home  Environment       71 

ing  her  three  children  by  cleaning  one  downtown 
office  daily  from  three  to  nine  A.M.  for  $15  a  week 
and  a  dentist's  office  three  hours  in  the  evening  for 
$8  a  week.  On  this  money  she  lived  in  a  dark  little 
apartment  of  three  rooms.  The  ceiling  was  mil 
dewed  and  the  plaster  was  falling  off.  Only  the 
room  which  she  rented  out  had  direct  access  to  the 
fresh  air.  She  became  afflicted  with  severe  pains 
and  the  Jewish  doctor  informed  her  that  the  trouble 
was  appendicitis.  An  operation  was  too  expensive, 
so  she  continued  her  work,  but  her  condition  finally 
became  so  serious  that  she  was  confined  to  her  bed. 
A  boarder  called  a  policeman,  who,  in  turn,  sum 
moned  an  ambulance,  and  an  operation  in  the  hos 
pital  followed.  After  she  was  discharged,  the  in 
stitution  continued  to  look  out  for  her  welfare  by 
sending  her  a  box  of  supplies  and  a  daily  bottle  of 
milk.  This  one  friendly  experience  has  made  her 
an  enthusiastic  believer  in  America. 

In  the  absence  of  hospital  data  about  diseases 
among  the  Russians,  the  testimony  of  priests  and 
Russian-speaking  doctors  in  the  following  places  is 
worth  recording  as,  perhaps,  representative. 

From  Connecticut:  uln  the  cotton  mills  there  is 
little  ventilation,  the  air  is  saturated  with  small  par 
ticles  of  cotton  fiber.  Few  Russians  can  work  more 
than  four  years  in  this  environment.  In  the  rubber 
factories,  the  fumes  from  the  acids  bring  on  disease 
and  in  the  majority  of  cases  after  six  years  they 
lose  their  health." 


72  The  Russian  Immigrant 

"In  the  rubber  company  after  three  years  they 
get  sick  from  tuberculosis  from  the  acid  fumes." 

From  Pennsylvania:  "In  steel  if  he  is  working 
twelve  hours  a  day,  the  ordinary  Russian  is  abso 
lutely  used  up  in  a  few  years.  One  example  is  Sapit- 
sky,  who  worked  six  years  at  the  Crucible  Steel  car 
rying  heavy  steel  bars.  He  has  now  been  in  the  hos 
pital  a  year." 

"In  the  mines  tuberculosis  is  common.  I  have 
just  come  from  the  home  of  a  Russian  who  has  been 
here  fifteen  years.  He  is  forty-nine  years  old,  and 
has  eight  children,  and  is  dying  of  tuberculosis." 

"The  custom  in  America  of  sleeping  on  mattresses 
simply  results  in  providing  a  better  breeding  ground 
for  vermin.  The  housing  conditions  are  so  bad  the 
Russians  get  sick." 

"In  Russia  they  have  clean  food  and  good  veg 
etables  so  they  can  eat  them  without  washing.  Here 
in  America  the  Russian  buys  the  worst  and  it  is  full 
of  disease." 

"Not  healthy  work,  all  die  young.  There  is  not 
one  who  has  lived  to  be  sixty  in  my  parish." 

From  Akron:  "While  improving  on  the  financial 
side  the  Russian  is  deteriorating  on  the  physical 
side." 

"Rubber  works  are  hard  on  the  teeth.  Tuber 
culosis  and  venereal  disease  exist  in  spite  of  the  nat 
urally  strong  constitution  of  the  Russian." 

From  Lawrence :  "The  Russian  is  constitutionally 
strong,  but  the  textile  industry  is  very  dusty  and  is 


The  Russian  in  His  Home  Environment       73 

hard  on  the  lungs ;  the  longer  he  remains,  the  more 
prone  he  is  to  tuberculosis." 

From  Cleveland:  "The  most  prevalent  disease 
among  the  Russians  is  tuberculosis." 

Whether  or  not  these  are  accurate  observations, 
they  do  indicate  what  Russians  believe  to  be  true, 
pamely,  that,  in  their  situation,  America  is  not  a 
healthy  place  to  live  in.  Most  of  the  Russians  ad 
mit  that  our  cities  are  cleaner  than  those  of  Russia 
and  that  the  water  supply  and  sewage  system  are 
something  they  did  not  have  at  home.  But  these 
advantages  do  not  seem  to  impress  themselves  with 
great  force  on  the  Russian  from  the  village;  he 
points  to  the  loss  in  his  own  weight  as  an  index  of 
the  deleterious  effect  of  America.  One  will  fre 
quently  say,  "I  was  one  hundred  and  seventy  pounds 
in  weight,  now  I  am  only  one  hundred  and  thirty," 
or  "I  weighed  two  hundred  pounds,  now  I  am  only 
one  hundred  and  forty." 

What  makes  ill  health  worse  for  the  Russian  is 
that  he  has  no  family  physician  to  whom  he  can  turn. 
Rarely  speaking  English,  he  must  patronize  those 
who  can  understand  him,  and  these  are  often  quack 
doctors  who  use  every  device  for  ensnaring  him. 
The  editor  of  one  of  the  Russian  newspapers  told 
me  that  his  paper  only  kept  running  from  the  ad 
vertisements  of  these  "leeches."  Another  stated 
that  his  paper  secured  thirty  per  cent  of  its  income 
from  medical  advertisements.  Yet  after  an  analysis 
of  medical  advertisements  in  Russian  papers,  Mi- 


74  The  Russian  Immigrant 

chael  M.  Davis  of  the  Boston  Dispensary  and  head 
of  the  department  of  Health  Standards  of  the 
Americanization  Studies  of  the  Carnegie  Founda* 
tion,  says  that  they  are  'Very  obviously  fakes." 
Here  is  a  sample  of  one  advertisement  translated 
into  English.  "This  is  the  only  doctor  from  the 

old  country Fellow    citizens :    look    for    help 

where  you  can  find  it,  which  will  bring  you  out  on 
the  right  path.  This  is  the  only  doctor  from  the 
old  country.  He  speaks  Russian  and  has  a  practice 
of  twenty-five  years.  He  cures  with  the  best  reme 
dies,  chronic  and  all  diseases.  Do  not  lose  any  time. 
Come  promptly  to  his  office.  Advice  free."  Another 
reads :  uDo  you  suffer  from  weak  nerves,  lame  back, 
forgetfulness,  palpitation  of  the  heart,  weak  lungs, 
dull  heavy  feeling,  headache,  dizziness,  dimness  of 
vision,  weakness  of  limbs,  ulcers,  sores,  catarrh, 
dripping  in  the  throat,  pain  in  the  stomach  or  back, 
sore  throat,  coated  tongue,  constipation,  rheumatic 
pains,  pimples?  These  and  many  others  are  the  first 
warnings  of  the  loss  of  health.  Come  to  me  at  once, 
if  you  need  treatment.  Delays  are  dangerous.  No 
disease  lies  dormant." 

The  Russians  testify  that  they  never  go  to  these 
doctors  without  learning  that  they  have  a  serious 
complaint,  and  paying  a  good  round  sum.  A  Polish 
doctor  told  me  that  quack  doctors  frequently  scare 
the  Russians  into  the  belief  that  they  have  serious 
maladies  and  then  charge  them  as  much  as  they  will 


The  Russian  in  His  Home  Environment       75 

bear.  A  Jewish  doctor  told  me  that  the  Russians 
always  pay  whatever  he  asks  without  a  murmur  and 
that  he  greatly  preferred  them  to  Americans,  who 
always  make  trouble  over  the  bill.  Although  the 
Russians  report  going  to  German,  Polish,  Jewish, 
colored  and  even  Japanese  doctors  they  seldom  con 
sult  an  American  one.  In  answer  to  my  question  as 
to  where  he  secured  a  brilliant  scarlet-colored  fluid 
for  spraying  his  nose,  a  Russian  worker  in  Philadel 
phia  replied  that  it  came  from  a  negro  doctor.  "He 
charges  less  than  the  Jewish  one,"  was  his  reason 
for  patronizing  him.  Another  described  his  pref 
erence  for  a  Jewish  dentist.  uThe  American  one 
says,  'Hurry  up,  get  a  jump,  open  your  mouth  wide, 
hold  up  your  head  high.'  In  fifteen  minutes  the 
work  was  done.  The  Jewish  doctor  takes  an  hour 
and  does  the  job  good."  Still  another  told  me  that 
an  American  dentist  pulled  out  the  wrong  tooth. 
When  he  went  back  the  dentist  said,  "Well,  I  was 
busy  and  didn't  notice."  After  finally  pulling  out 
the  right  one,  this  man  charged  him  for  both  teeth. 
Whether  true  or  not,  this  story  reflects  the  narrator's 
state  of  mind. 

In  addition  to  his  experience  with  the  doctors,  the 
Russian,  along  with  everybody  else,  is  exposed  to 
the  patent  medicine  danger,  only  he  has  not  been 
educated  with  regard  to  its  injurious  effects.  Here 
is  a  specimen  advertisement: 


76  The  Russian  Immigrant 

EVERY  RUSSIAN  MOTHER 

knows  that  the  only  certain  medicine  for  the  crying  and 
discomfort  and  sleeplessness  of  her  baby  is  "Romko,"  manu 
factured  by  the  Baby  Safety  Company.  Do  not  let  your 
baby  cry  and  suffer  for  hours.  If  your  child  has  a  stomach 
ache  or  suffers  from  constipation;  if  its  teeth  are  coming 
and  it  is  sick  for  this  reason ;  if  it  cries  and  is  discontented, 
do  not  wait  one  minute,  but  buy  in  the  local  drug  store, 
for  thirty-five  cents,  a  bottle  of  "Romko,"  manufactured  by 
the  Baby  Safety  Company.  If  you  cannot  get  the  original 
there,  send  a  paper  dollar  for  three  bottles,  or  stamps  for 
thirty-five  cents  for  one  bottle,  to  the  following  ad 
dress:  13 

To  all  too  many  Russians,  patent  medicines  and 
quack  doctors  are  another  side  of  America  which 
stands  for  money-getting  rather  than  friendship. 
Perhaps  the  chief  charges  the  Russians  lay  up 
against  America  on  the  side  of  their  health  are : 

1.  The  climate  is  bad.     The  damp  atmosphere 
with  the  alternating  hot  and  cold  temperatures  is  far 
different  from  the  dry  cold  of  Russia. 

2.  The  change  from  the  open  fields  to  the  factory 
air  surcharged  with  chemical  fumes,  dust  and  other 
impurities  is  a  radical  one. 

3.  The  unsanitary  tenement  houses  with  the  re 
sultant  overcrowding,  breed  disease. 

4.  The  constant  meat  diet,  as  contrasted  with  the 


13  Advertisement   given    to    the    author   in    translated    form    by 
Michael  M.  Davis,  of  the  Carnegie  Americanization  Studies. 


The  Russian  in  His  Home  Environment       77 

fresh  vegetables  of  the  Russian  peasant,  is  harmful. 

5.  The  exploitation  of  quack  doctors  makes  them 
a  prey  to  greed  when  they  most  need  help. 

It  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  indi 
viduals  who  do  not  have  the  right  diet,  or  are  below 
par  physically  are  inclined  to  be  pessimistic  toward 
all  their  environmental  situation.  Now  the  Rus 
sian,  as  we  have  just  noted,  has  come  from  a  dif 
ferent  climate  with  different  food  and  from  an  out 
door  life  into  factory  conditions  and  tenement  con 
gestion.  These  things  cannot  but  affect  his  health. 
If,  in  addition  to  this,  he  is  exploited  by  the  foreign 
doctor  to  whom  he  turns  for  help,  his  mental  reac 
tion  may  be  prejudiced  against  every  situation  in 
which  he  is  placed.  This  factor  alone  might  pre 
dispose  him  to  dislike  America.  It  certainly  leaves 
him  open  minded  towards  radical  propaganda, 
which  always  bitterly  assails  the  existing  conditions. 

Single  Russians 

The  overwhelming  majority  of  Russians  in  this 
country  are  single,  or  without  wives  here.  In  the 
Immigration  Commission  Report  of  1909,  41.4  per 
cent  of  the  6,621  Russians  twenty  years  of  age  or 
over  were  single.  Out  of  the  entire  number  there 
were  only  140  married  Russian  women,  a  fact  tend 
ing  to  indicate  that  the  wives  of  the  great  majority 
of  married  males  were  still  in  Europe.  From  1898 
until  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  14  per  cent  of  the 
Russian  immigration  has  been  female  and  86  per 


78  The  Russian  Immigrant 

cent  male.  This  means  that  on  entering  the  United 
States  at  least  seventy-two  per  cent  of  the  Russians 
were  single  or  without  their  wives.14 

This  paucity  of  Russian  women  results,  to  some 
extent,  in  a  suppression  of  normal  sex  responses. 
These  tendencies  must  either  be  repressed  entirely 
or  find  expression  in  abnormal  ways  which  Amer 
ican  mores  prohibit.  The  frequent  advertisements 
in  the  Russian  press  asking  for  news  of  the  where 
abouts  of  a  wife  who  has  run  away  with  one  of  the 
boarders  is  but  one  index  of  this  situation.  "Freud 
considers  that  the  origin  of  all  cases  belonging  to 
certain  varieties  of  mental  disease  can  be  traced  back 
to  factors  connected  with  a  single  one  of  the  great 
instincts,  that  of  sex."  15  While  Freud  is  considered 
by  many  to  have  overemphasized  the  role  of  sex, 
few  would  deny  that  in  many  cases  his  explanation 
has  a  large  measure  of  truth.  The  suppression  of 
the  normal  opportunity  for  sex  responses  in  the  Rus 
sian  is  one  more  factor  which  affects  his  attitude. 

In  addition  to  this  fact,  the  single  Russian  has 
few  contacts  with  the  favorable  side  of  American 
life.  He  usually  secures  his  room  from  foreigners 
and  makes  his  living  arrangements  in  one  of  the  fol 
lowing  ways : 

a — By  renting  a  room  and  boarding  himself. 

14  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Immigration,  Annual  Report  of  the  Commis 
sioner  General  of  Immigration  for  each  year  from  1898-1914, 
table  7. 

16  Hart,  B.,  The  Psychology  of  Insanity  (Cambridge,  England, 
1912),  p.  166. 


The  Russian  in  His  Home  Environment       79 

b — By  renting  a  room  and  boarding  at  the  restaurants. 

c — By  renting  rooms  cooperatively  with  other  Russians. 
In  this  case  members  of  the  group  eat  chiefly  at  restaurants, 
but  take  supper  and  Sunday  meals  together  in  their  rooms. 
Often  they  have  no  system  in  their  buying.  First  one  man 
makes  a  purchase,  then  another,  and  each  time  the  cost  is 
divided. 

d— By  boarding  in  a  family  where  the  landlady  does  the 
cooking  and  the  washing.  There  are  several  ways  of  pay 
ing  for  the  board.  Sometimes,  although  rarely,  there  is  a 
flat  rate,  in  which  case  the  landlady  keeps  no  books.  In 
other  cases  she  buys  all  the  food  and  once  every  two  weeks 
the  total  bill  is  divided.  Another  method  is  for  each  man 
to  have  his  own  account  book;  the  landlady  purchases  what 
he  wants  and  charges  it  to  him. 

In  Mr.  Cole's  Chicago  study,18  the  average  wage 
of  the  single  men  was  only  $23  a  week  and  fifty- 
one  per  cent  were  spending  $20  or  over  each  week. 
In  contrast  to  the  married  Russians  they  often  buy 
expensive  clothes  and  enjoy  a  heavy  diet  in  restau 
rants.  This  was  the  daily  food  ration  of  some  of 
these  workmen  in  Pittsburgh :  at  5  A.  M.,  coffee 
and  bread;  at  9  A.  M.,  uon  the  sly,"  so  they  say, 
sausage  (culbasa),  bread  and  perhaps  an  apple;  at 
noon,  coffee,  steak,  and  bread;  and  at  six  o'clock 
cabbage  soup,  one-half  pound  of  meat,  bread  and 
potatoes.  Others  interviewed  had  coffee  with  eggs 
or  ham  in  the  morning;  sausage,  bread  and  butter 
and  apple  pie  at  noon;  and  half  a  pound  of  meat 

16  Cf.  supra,  chap,  iii,  p.  34. 


8o  The  Russian  Immigrant 

with  soup  and  bread  at  night.  In  New  York  City 
the  patronage  of  cheap  foreign  restaurants  seems  to 
be  almost  universal.  The  ones  utilized  are  mostly 
Jewish.  For  example,  in  Brownsville,  a  Jewish-Rus 
sian  section  of  Brooklyn,  there  are  only  two  Rus 
sian  and  two  Polish  restaurants,  although  there  are 
a  great  many  places  where  the  Russians  eat,  the  pro 
prietors  of  which  are  foreign-born  Jews.  The  result 
is  that  patronizing  a  restaurant  does  not  ordinarily 
bring  Russians  into  contact  with  Americans.  Rus 
sians  with  whom  the  writer  talked  in  New  York  City 
in  1921  claimed  that  their  food  cost  them  from 
$1.40  to  $2.00  daily  per  person.  Apparently,  they 
can  live  more  cheaply  than  Americans  chiefly  be 
cause  they  are  willing  to  put  up  with  congested  quar 
ters  and  low  rents.  These  very  conditions,  how 
ever,  keep  them  isolated  from  American  life  in  an 
alien  environment  which  by  them  is  falsely  thought 
of  as  typifying  America. 

Married  Russians 

We  have  already  shown  that  the  overwhelming 
majority  of  Russians  in  America  are  single  or  with 
out  their  wives.  The  scarcity  value  of  the  Russian 
women  who  are  here  is  well  illustrated  by  the  follow 
ing  incident.  A  young  woman  inserted  an  advertise 
ment  in  the  Russian  paper  for  a  secretarial  position; 
within  a  week  she  had  received  over  fifty  replies  ask 
ing  for  her  hand  in  marriage.  The  result  of  the 
scarcity  of  Russian  girls  is  that  there  is  some  inter- 


The  Russian  in  His  Home  Environment       8 1 

marriage  with  Ruthenians,  Poles  or  any  Slavic  na 
tionality. 

It  is  obvious  that  life  in  congested  and  dilap 
idated  tenements  cannot  be  ideal.  For  many  mar 
ried  Russians  the  sitting  room,  kitchen  and  bedroom 
are  all  in  one.  The  writer  visited  a  family  of  five 
who  were  living  in  this  way.  The  husband  worked 
twelve  hours  a  night  and  was  sound  asleep  at  eleven 
in  the  morning,  oblivious  to  his  caller  or  the  children. 
The  wife  contributed  her  share  toward  the  support 
of  the  family  by  renting  her  other  room  to  boarders. 
The  apartment  of  two  rooms  cost  sixteen  dollars  a 
month.  The  walls  were  mildewed  and  in  spots  the 
paper  hung  down  in  tatters,  and  it  is  obvious  that 
little  wholesome  family  life  can  exist  in  such  a  house 
— yet  there  are  many  such  Russian  homes.  The 
two  older  children  attend  an  American  public  school; 
their  last  report  cards  showed  a  good  record.  They 
get  no  help  from  their  parents,  who  are  illiterate. 
Both  these  children  enjoyed  school;  but  as  soon  as 
possible  they  will  be  sent  to  work  in  order  to  con 
tribute  their  share  towards  the  family  income.  I 
went  over  the  expenses  of  the  family  with  the  mother 
and  found  that  they  were  not  saving  a  cent.  The 
cost  of  food  and  clothes  for  the  children,  who 
wanted  to  be  dressed  as  well  as  the  others  in  the 
school,  made  saving  impossible. 

The  women  work  exceptionally  hard.  For  ex 
ample,  one  known  to  the  writer  cares  for  seven  chil 
dren  and  eighteen  boarders.  She  gets  up  at  six  A.  M. 


82  The  Russian  Immigrant 

and  works  until  night,  cooking,  washing,  and 
scrubbing  daily  for  twenty-seven  people,  yet  she 
thinks  she  is  not  doing  over  much.  Nearly  all  the 
women  either  take  in  boarders  or  do  outside  work, 
and  some  do  both.  In  Ansonia,  Connecticut,  for  ex 
ample,  some  of  the  mothers  sew  on  buttons;  in  Phila 
delphia  they  frequently  work  in  the  candy  or  cigar 
factories.  One  family  there  adopted  the  plan  of 
having  the  husband  at  his  job  during  the  night  and 
the  wife  during  the  day,  so  that  some  one  was  at 
home  with  the  children  all  the  time.  In  Boston  and 
Lawrence  the  women  are  in  the  spinning  mills  and 
candy  factories.  In  some  of  the  mining  towns  they 
keep  a  few  chickens,  selling  the  eggs.  In  Hartford 
the  priest  said  that  many  of  the  women  string  to 
bacco.  Wherever  they  are,  the  women  find  extra 
tasks,  and  their  lot  is  not  easy. 

Frequently  the  husband  will  start  away  at  eight 
in  the  morning  and  be  back  at  six  in  the  evening;  but 
the  wife  must  have  the  breakfast  ready  before  the 
men  leave  and  then  care  for  the  children  all  day; 
perhaps,  also,  doing  some  sewing  for  a  clothing  con 
cern.  She  must  purchase  the  groceries,  wash  the 
clothes,  clean  and  cook,  not  only  for  her  own  family 
but  for  the  boarders  as  well.  The  pall  of  heavy, 
monotonous  labor  lies  upon  the  entire  family.  The 
men  return  from  the  day's  labor  in  blast  furnace  or 
mine  tired  out  and  incapable  of  any  real  comrade 
ship  with  their  children  or  wives.  In  the  family  re 
lationships,  then,  the  Russians  are,  as  a  rule,  isolated 


The  Russian  in  His  Home  Environment       83 

from  wholesome  influences  except  those  which  may 
come  through  the  children  who  attend  the  public 
school. 

The  Second  Generation 

The  Russian  children,  as  a  whole,  know  English 
better  than  they  do  Russian.  They  will  understand 
when  their  parents  speak  in  the  Old  Country  tongue, 
but  will  usually  answer  in  English.  They  attend 
the  public  schools  until  they  can  pass  muster  as  old 
enough  to  work.  Considerable  violation  of  the 
school  law  occurs,  because,  although  the  Russians 
take  pride  in  their  children  and  wish  them  to  secure 
better  jobs  and  live  easier  lives  than  they  have,  eco 
nomic  pressure  is  too  strong  for  them.  As  far  as 
they  can,  the  children  dress  like  American  children 
and  often  look  askance  at  the  peculiar  habits  and 
customs  of  their  parents.  A  common  schooling 
breaks  down  a  good  deal  of  racial  prejudice,  and 
the  children  mingle  with  almost  any  of  those  in  the 
neighborhood,  even  the  blacks. 

All  too  early,  however,  they  must  begin  to  con 
tribute  their  share  to  the  family  income  as  office 
boys,  clerks,  candy-factory  workers,  errand  or  mes 
senger  boys,  drivers,  and  what  not.  The  girls  often 
work  at  the  bargain  counter  at  an  extremely  low 
wage,  which  they  feel  is  inadequate  for  their  needs. 
They  do  not  know  how  to  spend  their  money  wisely 
and  naturally  desire  the  silks  and  furs  which  are 
worn  by  others  at  the  dances,  their  chief  amusement. 


84  The  Russian  Immigrant 

It  is  seldom  that  they  are  not  able  to  purchase  some 
of  these  clothes,  but  often  it  is  at  the  expense  of 
their  food. 

The  young  Russians  of  the  second  generation,  in 
so  far  as  they  have  gone  to  our  public  schools,  have 
come  in  touch  with  some  of  the  wholesome  influ 
ences  of  our  American  life,  and  they  respond  with 
appreciation.  They  feel  more  American  than  Rus 
sian.  Unfortunately,  the  majority  leave  school 
somewhere  between  the  sixth  and  eighth  grades  with 
hardly  more  than  the  barest  rudiments  of  reading 
and  writing,  and  are  destined  to  live  among  the  low 
est  ranks  of  our  citizens.17 

Recreation 

Mr.  Cole  in  a  tabulation  of  the  predominant  rec 
reational  interests  of  ninety-eight  Russian  men  in 
Chicago18  notes  that  sixteen  claimed  the  saloon  and 
more  than  half  of  the  entire  number  frequented  it; 
next  came  the  movies  with  thirteen,  although  nearly 
all  stated  that  they  attended  occasionally. 

The  other  interests  follow  in  the  order  of  their 
importance:  Reading  13,  dancing  n,  music  n, 
home  6,  girls  5,  church  5,  walking  4,  bowling  4, 
theater  3,  pool  3,  cards  2,  meetings  2.  The  men 
who  worked  seven  days  a  week  were  very  bitter 

17  The  Russian  is  among  the  newest  of  our  immigrants.     There 
has  not  yet  been  time  for  a  large  number  of  the  second  generation 
to  grow  up  in  our  country,  and  this  study  is  primarily  concerned 
with  the  foreign-born. 

18  Cf.  supra,  chap,  iii,  p.  34.     (Mr.  Cole  secured  data  on  their 
recreational  interests  from  98  out  of  the  112  men  investigated.) 


The  Russian  in  His  Home  Environment       85 

when  asked,  "What  do  you  do  when  you  want  to 
have  a  good  time?"  One  said,  "When  we  want  a 
good  time,  sleep  a  couple  of  hours."  Another  said, 
"We  work  like  bull,  no  time  even  for  rest." 

The  prohibition  amendment  has  brought  a  change 
in  the  recreational  life  of  many  Russians.  Although 
they  can  still  purchase  liquor  in  some  places,  it  is 
expensive.  Some  have  begun  to  make  their  own 
liquor  at  home,  but  this  is  by  no  means  universally 
true.  In  one  mining  town  in  Pennsylvania  the  au 
thorities  stated  that  in  the  days  of  the  saloon  they 
had  to  keep  a  special  policeman  all  the  time  to 
handle  the  drunken  quarrels  arising  among  the  Rus 
sians  and  Ruthenians.  Now  they  have  no  policeman 
at  all.  Our  American  civic  and  religious  forces  have, 
as  yet,  put  nothing  in  the  place  of  the  saloon,  and 
the  Russian  spends  his  time  as  best  he  can.  Prob 
ably  the  greatest  single  number  patronize  the  mov 
ing  picture  houses;  nearly  all  the  Russians  go  oc 
casionally. 

The  cases  of  Russians  arrested  in  the  Communist 
raids  may  be  somewhat  exceptional,  and  yet  they  are 
significant.  Out  of  40  men  interviewed,  18  had  been 
accustomed  to  attend  the  movies  once  a  week  or 
oftener  and  the  theater  once  or  more  in  two  weeks. 
Nine  of  these  had  gone  on  an  average  of  2.7  times 
a  week.  The  other  twenty-two  varied  widely,  eleven 
patronizing  a  performance  once  in  two  weeks  or  a 
month,  while  the  rest  attended  but  rarely.  Those 
who  frequented  the  movies  over  twice  a  week  went 


86  The  Russian  Immigrant 

to  the  theater  about  three  times  a  month.  As  might 
be  expected,  the  foreigners  usually  patronize  the 
smaller  shows.  The  character  of  the  pictures  as 
seen  by  the  writer  was  largely  of  the  sex  appeal 
mingled  with  the  dime  novel  mystery  and  murder. 
One  Russian  workman  in  Akron  characterized  them 
as  "only  play,  killing  and  jumping."  Often  they  de 
pict  the  life  of  millionaires  living  in  idleness  and 
luxury,  and  naturally  the  Russian  who  seldom  comes 
into  contact  with  real  Americans  often  forms  a  part 
of  his  conception  of  American  life  from  what  he 
sees  in  the  pictures.  They  make  him  think  of  the 
contrast  between  his  own  surroundings  and  those 
portrayed  in  the  film. 

Card  playing  is  a  constant  source  of  amusement. 
Many  of  the  Russians  play  at  home  and  often  there 
is  the  added  incentive  of  money  stakes.  This  is 
hardly  to  be  wondered  at,  for  when  they  cannot  read 
they  have  few  other  amusements. 

Dances  are  frequently  given  among  the  Russians 
and  are  largely  patronized  by  the  younger  men  and 
women.  Occasionally,  also,  amateur  theatricals  are 
staged.  Most  of  the  Russians  love  music;  the  bala 
laika  19  and  other  stringed  instruments  are  popular. 
The  beautiful  Russian  folksongs  and  the  music  from 
their  own  celebrated  masters — Tschaikowsky,  for  ex 
ample — present  a  striking  contrast  to  our  American 
ragtime.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the  Russian  appre- 

19  The  balalaika  is  a  Russian  musical  instrument  resembling  a 
guitar. 


The  Russian  in  His  Home  Environment       87 

ciates  his  own  music  and  that  in  the  dark  city  tene 
ments  he  will  occasionally  recall  his  homeland  in 
such  verses  as  these : 

ON  THE  BANKS  OF  THE  VOLGA  20 

On  the  waters  of  our  little-mother  Volga 

The  storm  is  lashing,  and  the  waves  rise  high ; 

Alone  a  tiny  boat  is  battling 

Alone  'midst  the  fury  of  the  gale ; 

But  look !  at  the  helm  there  stands  a  figure, 

Scorning  death  in  the  waters  dark  and  grim, 

'Tis  the  hero  of  our  little-mother  Volga 

Our  Stegneka  Rasine. 

THE  FAIR  LITTLE  MEADOW 

O  meadow,  fair  little  meadow,  wide  in  sweep,  wide  in  sweep, 
On  thee,  fair,  dear  meadow,  the  shadows  descend,  the  shad 
ows  descend. 

The  lad  loved  a  lass,  loved  with  a  love  not  of  earth,  but 
profound. 

So  few  are  the  Russian  gathering  places  that  com 
paratively  seldom  do  the  Russians  join  together  for 
a  Sunday  walk  as  in  Russia.  Until  the  wholesale 
arrests  by  our  Federal  authorities  in  IQ2O,21  many  of 
the  Russians  attended  small  political  clubs  and  meet 
ings;  after  that,  group  meetings  were,  for  a  time, 
precarious  and  consequently  secret,  but  now,  in  1922, 
they  are  beginning  again. 

20  From    a   translation   by   Miss    Isabel    Hapgood,    used   on   the 
program  of  a  Russian  musicale  in  New  York  in  1921. 

21  This  refers  to  general  arrests  directed  against  Communists  and 
alien  radicals.    Cf.  chap.  vi. 


88  The  Russian  Immigrant 

In  the  agricultural  districts  the  dearth  of  enter 
tainment  is  even  more  apparent.  Perhaps  it  has  not 
been  an  entire  loss  that  in  so  many  rural  communities 
the  modern  brand  of  moving  pictures  has  been 
lacking. 

In  associative  recreation  as  well  as  in  other  forms 
of  group  activity,  the  basic  factor  is  consciousness 
of  kind.  Those  that  are  alike  tend  to  associate  to 
gether.  There  is  what  Woodworth  calls  a  social 
impulse,  "an  impulse  to  act  together,  as  well  as  to 
be  together."  This  can  best  find  expression  if  Rus 
sians  can  be  with  Russians  or  if  they  can  be  made  to 
feel  at  one  with  Americans.  Under  the  conditions 
prevailing  in  America,  this  social  impulse  does  not 
find  normal  outlet  with  Russians  and  practically  not 
at  all  with  Americans.  "A  people  can  be  judged 
and  its  career  can  be  predicted  from  the  character 
of  its  pleasures,  with  more  accuracy  than  from  any 
other  data."  22  We  have  already  seen  that  the  Rus 
sian  has  a  background  of  wholesome  recreation  in 
his  homeland.  His  folksongs  and  native  festivals 
far  surpass  in  sociality  our  usual  American  pleas 
ures.  Here,  the  Russian  can  attend  a  moving  pic 
ture  play  and  gaze  silently  at  what  is  usually  an 
abnormal  and  frequently  harmful  exhibition  pur 
porting  to  be  American  life.23  But  this  really  does 

22  Giddings,  Democracy  and  Empire,  op.  cit.,  p.  243. 

23  In  several  cities  and  states  in  1921  there  has  been  an  organized 
movement  against  the  low  quality  of  the  moving  pictures.     New 
York   State  passed   a  moving  picture  censorship   law.     Michigan 
prohibits  the  exhibition  of  a  crime,   and  Kalamazoo   attempts  to 
enforce  the  law.    Things  reached  such  a  pass  in  Tulsa,  Oklahoma, 


The  Russian  in  His  Home  Environment       89 

not  offer  scope  for  the  expression  of  the  social  im 
pulse,  it  merely  arouses  the  emotions. 

Conclusion 

It  is,  then,  apparent  that  in  most  of  these  recrea 
tional  activities,  little  contact  is  made  with  the  good 
side  of  American  life,  although  some  of  our  foibles 
such  as  cheap  "jazz"  music  and  questionable  moving 
pictures  are  foisted  upon  the  Russian.  We  have 
seen  that  he  usually  lives  in  a  cheap  foreign  district 
among  a  group  using  an  alien  language  and  having, 
in  the  main,  different  manners,  customs,  amusements, 
arts,  and  standards  of  living  from  the  American.  It 
is  one  of  the  striking  achievements  of  our  civiliza 
tion  that  we  do  reach  the  foreign  children  to  some 
extent,  but  we  give  them  only  the  barest  opportunity 
to  secure  something  of  our  culture  and  well-being. 
We  are  content  to  leave  their  parents  isolated  in  a 
foreign  atmosphere,  and  in  that  environment  the 
children  are  brought  up.  Some  device  ought  to  be 
utilized  to  bring  these  people  into  contact  with  good 
American  influences. 

The  foreign-born  Russian  instead  of  growing 
more  like-minded  with  Americans  through  the  forces 
we  have  herein  described  has,  too  often,  been  grow 
ing  still  further  unlike.  There  are  few  points  of 
common  stimulation,  inter-stimulation  and  response 

that  after  a  campaign  against  the  portrayal  of  crime  in  the  motion 
pictures,  one  newspaper,  the  Tulsa  Tribune,  refused  to  accept  all 
moving  picture  advertising. 


90  The  Russian  Immigrant 

between  Americans  and  Russians  to  bring  about  re 
semblance.  In  order  to  analyze  still  further  the 
causes  determining  this  differentiation,  we  shall  next 
discuss  the  educational  and  religious  social  forces 
which  surround  the  Russian  Slav. 


CHAPTER  V 

ORGANIZED  SOCIAL   FORCES:  RELIGIOUS  AND 
EDUCATIONAL 

The  Russian  Greek  Orthodox  Church 

WE  have  already  noted  in  Chapter  II  that  repre 
sentatives  of  the  Russian  branch  of  the  Eastern 
Orthodox  Church  followed  the  Russian  colonists  to 
Alaska  and  California  toward  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  and  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
centuries.  As  immigration  to  the  United  States 
increased,  the  number  of  churches  and  priests  multi 
plied  until  in  1916  there  were  169  churches  with 
99,681  members.1  This  membership  includes  all 
the  men,  women  and  children  living  in  a  parish 
who  ever  attend  services;  the  majority  are  Ruthe- 
nians  from  Galicia,  and  not  strictly  Russian  Slavs. 
The  church  is  controlled  by  an  archbishop  who,  until 
the  revolution,  was  appointed  by  the  Holy  Synod 
in  Russia.  This  Synod  used  $77,850  annually  from 
the  Tsar's  treasury  for  the  support  of  the  mission 
in  America;  in  addition,  the  Missionary  Society  of 
Russia  donated  $1,481. 

The  churches  in  America  are  divided  into  twenty- 

1  Bureau   of  the   Census,   Religious   Bodies,   1916    (Washington, 
1919),  part  2,  p.  261. 


92  The  Russian  Immigrant 

seven  districts  supervised  by  superintendents  ap 
pointed  by  the  Archbishop.  It  is  the  custom  in  the 
Greek  churches  to  hold  religious  services  on  Satur 
day  evening  and  Sunday  morning.  Religious  instruc 
tion  is  usually  provided  for  the  children,  either  on 
Saturday,  or  during  the  week  after  school  hours. 
In  1916  there  were  126  such  schools  with  150  offi 
cers  and  teachers  and  6,739  students.2  The  instruc 
tion  is  carried  on  in  the  Russian  language,  and  sev 
eral  priests  frankly  told  the  author  that  up  to  the 
revolution  the  attempt  was  made  to  keep  the  children 
loyal  to  the  Tsar  and  to  Russia.  The  chief  subjects 
taught  are:  the  Russian  language,  Russian  history. 
Bible  history,  the  catechism,  prayers  and  church  sing 
ing.  Besides  this,  the  church  maintains  a  theological 
seminary,  a  girls'  college,  an  immigrant  home,  a 
monastery  which  in  1916  contained  12  men,  and  an 
orphanage  which  in  the  same  year  supported  about 
55  children. 

Affiliated  with  the  Church  is  the  Russian  Ortho 
dox  Society  of  Mutual  Aid,  which  was  founded  in 
1895.  Its  aim  is  to  spread  and  strengthen  the  Or 
thodox  faith  and  church  organization  in  America 
and  to  provide  insurance  for  accident,  sickness,  and 
death  besides  aiding  widows  and  orphans.  It  also 
maintains  a  weekly  paper.3  In  April,  1920,  the  so- 

2  In  1920,  when  the  author  visited  these  schools,  the  priests  testi 
fied   that   there    had    been    a   great   falling   off    in    attendance   of 
children,  due  to  the  unpopularity  of  the  church. 

3  Bureau  of  the  Census,  Religious  Bodies,  1916,  part  2,  op.  cit., 
p.  260. 


Organized  Social  Forces  93 

ciety  had  188  Brotherhoods  with  7,336  members, 
composed  largely  of  workingmen.  The  largest  num 
ber  came  from  the  borders  of  Hungary,  the  next 
largest  from  Russia.  In  the  period  from  1905  to 
1918  inclusive,  the  society  paid  out  for  death  bene 
fits  $677,787.85,  for  sick  benefits  $53,845,  and  gave 
in  charity  $164,013.03.  In  April,  1920,  its  total 
insurance  liability  was  $5,304,500.  Five-sixths  of 
the  membership  was  insured  for  either  $500  or 
$i,ooo.4  Besides  this  organization  there  is  a  rival 
mutual  aid  company,  the  Russian  Brotherhood  So 
ciety,  which  also  enrolls  many  of  the  attendants  of 
the  Russian  Orthodox  Church.  This  society  was 
organized  in  1900  as  the  result  of  a  split  in  the 
Ukranian  People's  Society.  From  the  beginning  it 
stood  firmly  on  a  nationalistic  platform  for  Russia 
from  first  to  last,  refusing  to  be  associated  with  any 
agitation  in  favor  of  an  independent  Ukraine.5  In 
1917  the  Russian  Slav  membership  was  about  3,000 
out  of  a  total  of  over  12,000.  Over  half  the  men 
were  insured  for  $600  and  over  one-third  for 
$1,000,  while  over  four-fifths  of  the  women  were  in 
sured  for  $3OO.6  From  its  organization  in  1900  to 
1920,  this  society  paid  out  over  1,850  death  claims 
totalling  over  a  million  dollars.  It  is  therefore 
apparent  that  these  organizations  have  rendered 

4  Russian  Orthodox  Society  of  Mutual  Aid,  Russians  and  Ortho 
dox  in  North  America  (Wilkesbarre,  Pa.,  1920),  pp.  136-137  (tr. 
from  Russian). 

6E.  I.  Omeltchenko,  Russian- Am  eric  an  Register  (N.  Y.,  1920), 
p.  214. 

•  Omeltchenko,  op.  cit.,  p.  215. 


94  The  Russian  Immigrant 

service  to  the  Russian  workers  in  the  emergencies 
of  sickness  and  accident.  But  being  distinctly  Rus 
sian  they  have  failed  to  give  them  an  insight  into 
American  life. 

Although  these  societies  are  democratically  or 
ganized,  the  church  as  a  whole,  coming  as  it  has  out 
of  the  Russia  of  the  Tsars,  is  quite  the  reverse.  The 
Russian  workmen  give  their  savings  for  its  support, 
yet  have  little  or  no  voice  in  its  management.  In 
some  cases  the  funds  for  church  maintenance  are 
deducted  directly  from  their  pay  envelopes;  for  ex 
ample,  in  Coaldale  the  coal  companies  deduct  one- 
half  a  day's  wage  from  each  Russian  worker  every 
month  and  give  it  to  the  priest.  His  receipts  from 
this  source  in  1919  were  $14,917.78.  The  church 
there  cost  $200,000,  so  he  claimed,  having  a  debt 
of  only  $26,000  outstanding.  Although  these  Rus 
sian  workers  are  thus  constrained  to  support  the 
church,  they  yet  have  no  power  to  elect  their  priests 
and  the  property  stands  in  the  name  of  the  Arch 
bishop  at  New  York. 

Following  the  revolution  in  Russia,  many  of  the 
members  became  dissatisfied  with  the  autocratic  con 
trol  which  vested  all  the  titles  to  the  property  in  the 
name  of  the  Archbishop.  One  instance  occurred  in 
Chicago  when  some  of  the  congregation  demanded 
an  accounting  of  money  contributed.  Their  de 
mands  finally  became  so  insistent  that  the  priest 
preached  a  sermon  in  which  he  said  that  the  money 
belonged  to  the  Lord  and  would  be  accounted  for 


Organized  Social  Forces  95 

to  him.  This  so  enraged  a  portion  of  his  listeners 
that  they  protested  loudly  in  the  midst  of  the  service. 
The  final  result  was  the  starting  of  an  Independent 
Church  which  used  many  of  the  old  ritual  forms  but 
the  title  to  the  property  rested  with  the  parish 
ioners.7  Much  the  same  thing  happened  in  the  Rus 
sian  Orthodox  All  Saints'  Church  in  Detroit,  organ 
ized  in  1914.  During  1918  there  was  a  growing 
controversy  among  the  members  as  to  who  should 
own  the  property.  In  November  a  new  priest  was 
sent  to  the  congregation  in  spite  of  the  objections 
of  many.  Finally,  dissension  became  so  general  that 
in  March,  1919,  members  of  the  church  had  a  meet 
ing  at  which  a  new  board  was  elected,  the  majority 
being  in  sympathy  with  the  democratic  management, 
control  and  ownership  of  the  church  by  the  con 
gregation.  The  old  board  refused  to  give  over  the 
property,  and  an  independent  church  was  formed.  In 
1920  there  were  independent  churches  in  Chicago, 
Detroit,  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Brook 
lyn,  Baltimore,  Bayonne  City,  N.  J.,  and  Lawrence, 
Mass.  These  used  the  old  forms  and  acknowledged 
the  authority  of  the  Patriarch  in  Russia,  but  would 
not  submit  to  the  authority  of  the  acting  head  in 
America.  Ordinarily  these  separate  churches  carry 
on  a  larger  educational  and  social  work  than  do  the 
Orthodox  ones. 

The  Orthodox  Church  has  been  still  further  weak- 

7  According  to  the  testimony  of  several   who   had   been   in  the 
congregation  at  that  time. 


g6  The  Russian  Immigrant 

ened  by  various  unfortunate  occurrences  within  its 
own  organization.  A  suit  was  brought  against  the 
Archbishop  and  Consistory  by  seventeen  priests, 
charging  offenses  ranging  all  the  way  from  fraudu 
lent  handling  of  money  to  personal  immorality.8 
This  resulted  in  the  court's  appointing  a  Receiver.9 
Since  the  revolution  the  acting  Archbishop  has  had 
fifteen  lawsuits  on  his  hands,  five  of  them  concern 
ing  the  control  of  church  property.  United  States 
customs  officers  also  seized  goods  belonging  to  the 
church  because,  although  they  had  been  admitted 
free  of  duty  into  America,  the  church  was  now  sell 
ing  them.  The  autocratic  character  of  the  church 
was  frankly  admitted  when  the  Archbishop  declared 
that  he  was  accountable  to  no  one.  He  stated  fur 
ther  that  there  was  no  necessity  for  keeping  books, 
since  the  goods  were  sold  if  the  customer  had  money, 
and  if  not  were  given  away.10  The  powerful  Or 
thodox  Society  of  Mutual  Aid  attacked  Archbishop 
Alexander  in  their  paper  and  year-book  on  three 
grounds  i11 

i — That  he  had  been  intriguing  to  get  his  predecessor 
Evdokim  out  of  America  in  order  to  seize  control  himself. 

8  Taken  from  an  imprinted  brief  submitted  in  the  legal  proceed 
ings,  J.  S.  Kedrofsky  against  Archbishop  and  Consistory  of  the 
Russian  Orthodox  Greek  Church,  Supreme  Court,  New  York 
County  (1919). 

•The  order  appointing  Mr.  Francis  S.  Bangs,  Receiver,  was 
made  March  22,  1919,  and  was  filed  in  the  office  of  the  Clerk  of  New 
York  County,  March  24,  1919. 

10  From  the  brief  for  the  defense  in  answer  to  that  of  Kedrofsky 
in  the  suit  against  the  Archbishop,  op  cit. 

11  Russian  Orthodox  Society  of  Mutual  Aid,  op.  cit.,  p.  59. 


Organized  Social  Forces  97 

2 — That  in  reality  he  favored  an  independent  Ukraine. 
3 — That  he  had  tried  to  break  up  the  Orthodox  Society 
of  Mutual  Aid. 


All  these  facts,  many  of  which  were  sensationally 
treated  in  the  Russian  press,  strengthened  the  bad 
impression  made.  Many  Russians,  some  of  whom 
may  have  been  previous  supporters  of  the  church, 
became  deeply  suspicious  of  its  purpose  and  sin 
cerity. 

Before  the  revolution,  when  the  church  was  more 
popular  among  the  rank  and  file,  it  had  been  given, 
as  we  have  noted,  a  yearly  subsidy  from  Russia,  and 
prayer  was  regularly  made  for  the  Tsar.  It  frankly 
tried  to  keep  the  people  loyal  to  him,  and  to  Rus 
sia,  according  to  the  testimony  of  priests  to  the 
author.  The  feeling  of  an  educated  Russian  in 
Cleveland  was,  "The  priests  are  simply  the  Tsar's 
officials."  In  1920,  three  years  after  the  revolution, 
a  priest  in  Pennsylvania  showed  me  into  his  study 
in  which  still  hung  pictures  of  Tsar  Nicolas  and  the 
nobility.  Another  priest,  himself,  said  that  the 
church  in  America  had  always  been  used  in  the 
interest  of  the  Tsar's  government,  and  had  often 
tried  to  make  its  parishioners  dislike  America  that 
they  might  remain  loyal  to  Russia. 

In  the  Russian  Land,  a  religious  Russian  news 
paper,  there  appeared  in  1916  a  series  of  anti-Amer 
ican  articles  signed  "Black  Diamond."  In  the  law 
suits  brought  by  Father  Kedrofsky  it  was  charged 


98  The  Russian  Immigrant 

that  Archbishop  Alexander  was  the  author.  While 
this  is  denied  by  the  church  authorities  and  probably 
justly  so,  it  seems  unfortunate  that  a  religious  pe 
riodical  purporting  to  reflect  the  spirit  of  the  Ortho 
dox  Church  should  have  published  such  attacks  on 
America.  A  sample  is  here  given  in  order  that  the 
reader  may  gather  something  of  the  state  of  mind 
of  the  editor.12 

SWEET  LAND  OF  LIBERTY 

All  the  factories  are  the  selfsame  ichor  which  poisons 
the  worker's  soul  and  body.  Capital  is  a  cruel  master; 
workers  are  his  slaves  foredoomed  to  death.  Each  working 
day  shortens  the  worker's  life  for  a  few  months,  saps  the 
living  juice  out  of  him,  dries  out  the  heart,  dampens  the 
noblest  aspirations  of  the  soul ;  transforms  a  living  man 
into  a  sort  of  machine,  embitters  the  whole  life.  The  ragged 
soul  and  body  of  the  worker  bring  forth  to  the  world  half 
sick  children,  paralytic,  idiotic — therefore  the  factory's  poi 
son  kills  not  merely  the  unfortunate  workers,  but  also  whole 
generations.  It  kills  invisibly,  imperceptibly,  in  such  a  man 
ner  that  the  workers  themselves — the  voluntary  slaves  of 
capital — fail  to  see  the  whole  frightfulness  of  their  own 
situation.  .  .  . 

In  Russia,  more  attention  is  paid  to  the  man.  There,  they 
say:  "Men  are  not  cattle";  "Men  are  not  made  of  iron"; 
"Work  and  rest."  The  mining  of  gold  and  silver  and  iron 
is  called  in  our  land  "sing-sing  work"  (hard  labor)  which 

12  From  no.  203  for  Friday,  August  26th.  The  translation  is 
given  in  the  main  as  presented  in  the  brief  of  Kedrofsky,  but  has 
been  checked  over  by  the  author  with  the  newspaper  article  itself. 
Individual  words  may  be  translated  differently,  but  the  spirit  of  the 
article  is  correct. 


Organized  Social  Forces  99 

is  done  by  the  most  hopeless  of  criminals,  not  by  thieves  but 
by  cut-throats — soul-killers  or  traitors  to  the  State ;  whereas 
in  America  any  work  is  sing-sing  (hard  labor),  and  the 
workers  are  galley  slaves  although  they  call  themselves  free 
citizens. 

In  contrast  with  this,  the  church  has  published 
many  patriotic  things;  usually  in  its  services  there 
are  prayers  for  the  President  of  the  United  States 
and  sometimes  sermons  on  patriotic  themes.  On 
Sunday,  October  26th,  1920,  for  instance,  at  the 
service  in  the  cathedral  in  New  York,  the  priest 
spoke  on  Theodore  Roosevelt,  and  afterwards  at 
the  door  blanks  for  the  Roosevelt  Memorial  Asso 
ciation  were  handed  out.  Nevertheless,  the  church 
as  a  whole  is  frankly  a  Russian  institution,  giving 
the  Russian  little  about  America.  Its  priests,  for 
the  most  part,  do  not  even  speak  English. 

The  attitude  of  the  ordinary  workman  toward 
the  church  is  one  of  suspicion.  Stephen  Graham  in 
his  book,  With  Poor  Immigrants  to  America,  re 
ported  a  Russian  here  as  saying  that  the  priests  keep 
the  immigrant  down,  that  they  like  to  have  the  im 
migrants  drunk  in  order  to  get  more  money  from 
them,  and  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing  if  the  Or 
thodox  churches  were  demolished  and  the  priests 
sent  to  Europe.  After  the  Bolshevik  revolution  the 
priests  incurred  enmity  from  many  more  by  taking 
a  partisan  stand  in  the  civil  war.  One  in  Cleveland 
gave  out  anti-Bolshevik  propaganda  and  urged  the 
men  to  sign  up  to  fight  with  Kolchak.  The  church 


ioo  The  Russian  Immigrant 

leaders,  also,  in  many  cases  supported  the  owners 
of  the  businesses  in  which  their  parishioners  worked. 

In  Hartford,  Father told  me  that  he  knew 

of  one  priest  who,  in  time  of  strike,  received  money 
from  an  employer  to  urge  the  men  in  his  congrega 
tion  to  return  to  work.  In  Philadelphia  the  priest 
asserted  that  the  Bethlehem  Steel  Co.,  at  South 
Bethlehem,  Pa.,  in  1918  forced  each  Russian  work 
man  to  pay  $i  a  month  to  the  Orthodox  Church. 
Those  who  refused  were  discharged.  He  added, 
"If  only  all  the  companies  would  adopt  this  policy 
we  would  have  no  difficulty."  It  is  only  natural  that 
the  priests  should  strive  to  secure  financial  support 
from  the  companies  which  employ  Russians.  The 
following  letter  reveals  the  method  adopted  by  one 
in  Akron  in  1918  and  to  some  extent  reveals  his 
state  of  mind.  The  priests  have  testified  to  the 
author  that  they  seldom  meet  with  success  in  such 
appeals. 

Mr.  F.  A.  Seiberling,  President, 
The  Goodyear  Tire  &  Rubber  Co., 
Akron,  Ohio. 

DEAR  SIR: 

Not  less  than  three  thousand  of  your  employees  are  speak 
ing  the  Russian  language  and  still  more  than  such  were 
born  in  or  belonged  to  the  Russian  Greek  Orthodox  Cath 
olic  Church. 

True  Christianity  always  makes  a  man  better  in  all  re 
spects.  One  cares  more  for  his  family,  is  more  earnest  in 
his  work,  is  less  vulnerable  to  the  poisonous  teachings  of 


Organized  Social  F-orws  ibi 

some  modern  agitators  trying  to  inoculate  hate,  envy  and 
crime  into  those  hearts  of  men  where  Christianity  has 
planted  love,  respect,  order  and  justice  after  long  years  of 
painstaking  work. 

The  present  conditions  are  particularly  critical  to  the 
Russian  workingmen  who,  without  proper  education  and 
surrounded  by  new  conditions  of  life,  may  become  the  adepts 
of  some  devilish  doctrine,  nourished  in  concealment  by 
treacherous  enemies  of  the  United  States.  They  may  be 
come  infested  with  such  doctrines  unless  the  moral  influ 
ence  of  their  mother  church  will  save  them.  We  need  a 
couple  of  thousand  dollars  to  finish  our  task,  but  as  I  am 
most  of  the  time  on  my  missionary  work,  it  will  take  a  long 
time  before  I  shall  be  able  to  pay  the  above  money,  unless  a 
well  meaning  citizen,  as  you,  with  a  broad  understanding 
and  sincere  desire  to  improve  our  working  community 
morally  as  well  as  materially,  will  contribute  to  the  con 
struction  of  this  church,  which  no  doubt  is  a  great  factor 
in  the  up-building  of  higher  morals  and  better  material  con 
ditions  of  this  community. 

As  per  custom  of  our  church,  we  shall  pray  every  Sunday 
for  those  who  helped  to  build  this  temple  of  the  Lord,  and 
God  will  recompense  you  tenfold  for  what  you  will  con 
tribute  to  the  benefit  of  his  faithful  worshipers. 

Your  sincere  friend  and  humble  servant  of  the  Lord. 

In  Pennsylvania  an  Orthodox  Father  told  the  au 
thor  that  his  predecessor  secured  funds  to  build  a 
church  by  pledging  the  workmen  that  the  money  ad 
vanced  would  be  paid  back  to  them.  Now  he  leaves 
and  his  successor  is,  of  course,  unable  to  repay  the 
money. 


r62  The 'Russian  Immigrant 

All  these  things  add  to  the  hostility  of  the  work 
men  against  the  church.  One  priest  in  Brooklyn 
estimated  that  75  per  cent  of  the  Russians  oppose 
the  church.  "Even  if  bread  were  offered  to  them 
free  from  a  church,"  he  said,  "they  would  refuse. 
As  long  as  a  Russian  is  healthy,  he  does  not  need 
the  church."  That  the  masses  from  Russia  have 
always  distrusted  the  Orthodox  Church  and  that  this 
is  the  reason  why  such  a  large  part  of  its  member 
ship  is  made  up  of  Ruthenians,  is  the  opinion  of  E. 
I.  Omeltchenko,13  who  as  member  of  the  Extraor 
dinary  Russian  Mission  sent  to  the  United  States 
after  the  revolution  by  the  Temporary  Government, 
made  a  survey  of  the  Russian  colonies  in  America. 
If  the  church  has  always  been  unpopular  among 
Russians,  it  is  doubly  unpopular  now.  In  his  in 
vestigations  the  author  visited  church  after  church, 
where  there  were  only  five  or  six  in  the  audience  dur 
ing  the  services.  The  priests  complained  bitterly 
that  contributions  were  exceedingly  small.  Joseph 
B.  Polonsky,  manager  of  the  Russian  Section  of  the 
Foreign  Language  Information  Service  of  the 
American  Red  Cross,  recently  made  a  trip  to  the 
more  important  Russian  colonies,  going  as  far  west 
as  North  Dakota.  After  visiting  all  the  Orthodox 
churches  he  reported  that  the  priests  were  preaching 
to  only  a  mere  handful;  in  consequence  many  asked 
him  about  securing  other  work  for  themselves. 

In  spite  of  these  facts,  individual  churches  are 

13  In  a  statement  to  the  author. 


Organized  Social  Forces  103 

popular  and  the  Cathedral  in  New  York  is  usually 
well  filled  on  a  Sunday  morning.  It  must  not  be 
forgotten,  moreover,  that  many  of  these  Russian 
priests  are  sincere  men  who  are  unselfishly  trying  to 
serve.  The  writer  became  convinced  that  many  are 
really  doing  a  splendid  work  for  their  parishioners. 
Even  if  the  Russian  workman  is  distrustful  of  the 
church,  he  is  likely  to  attend  on  Easter  and  at 
marriages.  For  funerals  and  christenings  even  the 
skeptical  feel  the  need  of  the  church.  The  priests 
are,  at  least,  sharing  the  isolation  of  the  mining 
camps  at  meager  salaries  and  are  giving  their 
countrymen  the  opportunity  of  having  beautiful 
religious  services. 

The  Protestant  Church 

The  work  of  the  Protestant  Church  on  behalf  of 
the  Russians  is  very  small  even  in  the  aggregate. 
The  U.  S.  Census  of  Religious  Bodies  tells  us  that 
all  the  Protestant  denominations  combined,  not 
counting  the  Greek  Orthodox  and  the  Roman 
Catholic,  have  only  fifteen  churches  exclusively  Rus 
sian,  with  a  total  of  only  81 1  members.  In  addition 
there  were  ten  churches  with  a  mixed  membership  of 
3947,  which  included  a  variety  of  other  nationalities 
besides  Russian.14  It  must  be  remembered  that 
even  these  figures  are  likely  to  be  somewhat 
exaggerated,  for  a  Russian  pastor  of  one  such 

14  Bureau  of  the  Census,  Religious  Bodies,  1916,  part  i,  op.  cit., 
pp.  78-82. 


IO4  The  Russian  Immigrant 

church  told  me  that  the  number  enrolled  as  mem 
bers  included  many  whose  addresses  the  church 
no  longer  knew.  Apart  from  any  matter  of  mem 
bership,  the  Protestant  Church  does  touch  others 
who  are  not  members.  For  example,  the  St.  Paul's 
M.  E.  Church  in  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  permitted 
a  group  to  organize  in  their  own  way  and  to  hold 
meetings  as  they  wished  in  the  church  rooms.  They 
called  themselves  "The  Russian  Self-Educated 
Circle."  Soon  the  number  of  members  reached 
about  sixty.  They  had  an  open  forum  every 
Saturday  night  following  a  lecture,  and  classes  in 
English  were  held  on  Monday  and  Tuesday  nights. 
Later,  mathematics  and  civics  were  added.  Volun 
tarily  this  group  began  to  make  contributions  to  the 
church  expenses  and  finally  several  joined  the  church 
on  their  own  initiative.  Now,  with  entertainments 
and  moving  pictures  added,  this  church  has  a  group 
of  about  300  Russians  in  its  settlement  work  in 
Jersey  City  and  200  in  Elizabethport.  The  Church 
of  All  Nations  and  the  Labor  Temple  in  New  York 
City  have  also  reached  numbers  of  Russians  who 
were  not  members.  The  Gary  Chapel  and  Neigh 
borhood  House  in  Gary,  Ind.,  have  tried  to  help 
all  the  various  nationalities,  including  the  Russian. 
Eight  national  foreign  societies  hold  meetings  in 
the  house.  There  are  classes  in  English,  boy  scout 
meetings  and  religious  services.  Even  making  due 
allowance  for  all  such  work,  what  the  Protestant 
Church  is  doing  is  almost  negligible  in  comparison 


Organized  Social  Forces  105 

with  the  numbers  involved,  approximating  two 
hundred  thousand  Russians  in  the  United  States. 
Moreover,  much  of  the  work  is  conducted  by  Rus 
sians  in  the  Russian  language,  without  any  attempt 
to  teach  English.  Among  all  the  Russian  churches 
listed  in  the  United  States  Census,  only  two  used 
the  English  language  as  well  as  the  Russian  in  their 
services.  For  the  most  part  they  are  conducted 
on  a  strict  denominational  basis,  rigidly  emphasizing 
certain  dogmas.  An  analysis  of  fifty  tracts  printed 
by  eight  different  organizations  in  Russian  and 
collected  by  the  Inter-Church  World  Movement 
showed  that  in  general  they  were  based  on  the  literal 
divine  inspiration  theory  of  the  Bible  and  used  "the 
proof  text"  method.  Fourteen  were  attempts  to 
prove  some  disputed  theological  dogmas,  such  as 
the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  on  Saturday  instead 
of  Sunday.  Considering  all  the  phases  of  its  activity, 
therefore,  the  influence  of  the  Protestant  Church  in 
Americanizing  the  Russians  is  slight. 

American  Public  and  Private  Agencies 

The  greatest  assimilating  agency  that  we  have  in 
America  is  the  public  school.  Jane  Addams  says 
that  the  only  service  America  is  thoroughly  equipped 
to  offer  the  immigrant  and  his  children  is  free 
education.  When  we  consider  that  in  1910,  accord 
ing  to  the  census,  over  one-fourth  of  the  children 
in  our  schools  were  of  foreign  or  of  mixed  parentage, 


io6  The  Russian  Immigrant 

we  can  realize  something  of  the  service  that  is 
being  rendered  the  foreigner  in  this  way. 

Several  private  agencies,  are  however,  trying  to 
meet  the  needs  of  the  alien.  The  social  settlements 
invite  the  Russians  along  with  other  nationalities. 
One  in  New  York  City,  for  instance,  offers  its  rooms 
for  the  use  of  Russian  groups  who  have  nowhere  else 
to  meet.  It  now  has  four  such  groups,  and,  as  a 
result,  several  individuals  have  joined  the  English 
classes  and  other  activities  which  the  settlement 
maintains.15  But  the  settlement  reaches  chiefly  the 
women  and  children,  and  of  these  not  many  among 
the  Russians. 

The  Y.M.C.A.  in  its  industrial  departments 
and  among  the  foreign-born  has  frequently  done 
good  work  for  the  Russians.  The  Brooklyn  Asso 
ciation,  for  one,  has  organized  an  English  class  in 
Brownsville.  This  class  has  been  popular  and  has 
already  stimulated  a  number  of  the  men  to  take  out 
citizenship  papers.  Mr.  Harvey  Anderson  and  Mr. 
Thomas  Cotton  in  New  York,  and  Mr.  Theodore 
G.  Demberg  in  Philadelphia  have  also  been  active. 
They  have  organized  lectures,  classes,  and  informa 
tion  bureaus  for  the  Russians,  besides  cooperating 
with  other  welfare  agencies  in  the  city. 

The  Y.W.C.A.,  through  its  International  Insti 
tutes,  serves  the  Russians  in  various  ways.  In 
Pittsburgh,  for  example,  it  has  an  information 
service  with  a  paid  Russian  worker,  and  any  who 

16  Daniels,  America  via  the  Neighborhood  (N.  Y.,  1920),  p.  227. 


Organized  Social  Forces  107 

need  advice  or  help  can  receive  it  there.  Besides 
this,  classes  in  English  are  conducted  in  the  factory 
districts  where  the  Russians  live. 

The  Foreign  Language  Governmental  Informa 
tion  Bureau  organized  by  the  Committee  on  Public 
Information  of  the  Government  and  now  affiliated 
with  the  Red  Cross  has  been  rendering  notable 
service  as  a  connecting  link  between  the  Government 
and  the  alien.  At  first  it  sent  bulletins  to  the 
Russian  papers  giving  material  relating  chiefly  to 
the  war;  later  it  began  to  give  general  information 
to  Russians.  By  interpreting  our  laws,  it  was  the 
means  of  saving  them  thousands  of  dollars  of 
income  taxes  wrongly  collected.  It  has  translated 
books  on  hygiene,  technical  works,  histories  of  the 
United  States,  works  on  citizenship,  and  historical 
plays  for  the  free  use  of  the  foreign  language 
schools,  churches  and  societies.  Moreover,  it  has 
sent  Russian  lecturers  to  all  parts  of  America  who 
speak  in  Bolshevik  clubs,  workmen's  halls  and  other 
meeting  places  on  such  subjects  as  American  Ideals 
or  Abraham  Lincoln. 

During  and  since  the  war,  Americanization  com 
mittees  have  had  a  mushroom  growth.  While  there 
is  no  doubt  that  they  have  done  a  great  deal  for 
the  foreigners,  they  have  not  touched  the  life  of 
Russians  as  much  as  that  of  other  nationalities.  In 
illustration  of  this :  an  investigator  of  Russian  condi 
tions  for  a  department  of  our  Government  says, 
"The  Pittsburgh  public  school  authorities  are 


io8  The  Russian  Immigrant 

carrying  on  Americanization  campaigns,  aided  by 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  which  every  so  often 
invites  the  'leaders'  of  the  foreign-born  to  a  dinner. 
As  far  as  the  Russians  are  concerned  the  results  of 
this  work  are  invisible."  16  Mr.  George  Creel,  Head 
of  the  Committee  on  Public  Information  of  the 
Government  during  the  war  says,  "Americanization 
activities  have  largely  been  stupid  when  they  were 
not  malignant.  .  .  .  The  sinister  attempts  of  em 
ployers  to  identify  Americanization  with  industrial 
submissiveness  are  with  us  to-day  as  in  the  past."  17 
A  Russian  priest  in  Cleveland  expressed  his  feelings 
about  the  Americanization  work  by  saying,  "If  I 
came  to  Russia  and  they  made  me  disown  everything 
dear  to  me  and  swear  I  loved  hard  work  in  the 
factory  and  bad  housing  I  would  never  become  a 
Russian."  Mr.  Sibray,  the  United  States  Immigra 
tion  Commissioner  in  Pittsburgh,  says,  "Our  Ameri 
canization  committees  are  largely  a  sham.  On  the 
average  they  think  merely  of  getting  the  foreigner 
to  take  out  citizenship  papers  and  that  is  the  last 
thing  that  ought  to  be  done."  A  social  organization 
in  1920  sent  a  Russian  officer  to  make  a  study  of  the 
Russians  in  Cleveland  and  asked  him  to  visit  the 
Americanization  committee  because  it  has  done 
notable  work  for  many  of  the  nationalities.  In  his 
written  report,  after  questioning  what  the  committee 
had  done  for  the  Russians,  he  said,  "Almost  none 

16  From  a  letter,  of  which  the  author  has  a  copy. 

17  Foreign  Born,  Jan.,  1920,  p.  19. 


Organized  Social  Forces  109 

of  the  Russians  knew  anything  about  America, 
Americanization  committees,  or  the  Y.M.C.A." 

A  quotation  from  one  of  the  Russian  papers  is 
characteristic  of  the  feeling  of  most  of  the  Russians 
with  whom  the  writer  talked:  "Many  Americaniza 
tion  committees  exist  only  on  paper.  They  make 
much  noise,  praise  themselves  in  the  newspapers, 
but  they  do  not  do  much  good.  .  .  .  They  mostly 
laugh  about  the  poor  foreigners.  ...  If  they  want 
to  help,  they  must  come  with  love  in  their  hearts."  18 

No  doubt  the  Russians  at  the  present  time  are 
difficult  to  reach  because  they  have  suffered  from 
the  fact  that  the  public  has  associated  them  with 
the  Bolsheviks  in  Russia.  The  Americanization 
committees  are  contending  with  a  difficult  problem 
and  have  naturally  confined  their  efforts  to  the 
nationalities  that  responded  most  readily. 

Government  agencies  such  as  the  California 
Immigration  Commission  have  done  some  construc 
tive  work  in  giving  information  to  Russians  and  in 
forcing  Americans  to  improve  working  conditions 
for  their  employees.19  This  commission  has  realized 
that  one  of  the  important  tasks  of  all  Americani 
zation  work  is  the  education  of  the  American 
employer  in  his  responsibility  toward  the  workman. 
One  reason  that  American  agencies  fail  to  do  more 
is  that  large  numbers  of  the  Russians  are  illiterate, 
and  this  fact  is  not  sufficiently  taken  into  considera- 

18  From  Pravda,  Sept.  30,  1919. 

19  Davis,  Immigration  and  Americanization,  op.  cil.,  pp.  440-473. 


no  The  Russian  Immigrant 

tion.  The  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission  in  1910 
found  that  out  of  a  total  of  7,390  Russians  interro 
gated,  29.5  per  cent  admitted  that  they  could  not 
read  and  write,20  The  illiterates  among  the  Rus 
sians  entering  this  country  for  the  five  years  from 
1910-1914,  when  the  war  stopped  immigration, 
roughly  averaged  35  per  cent.21  As  the  average 
Russian  at  the  port  of  entry  would  probably  claim 
that  he  was  literate  if  he  could  read  anything  at 
all,  these  figures  are  probably  low.  If,  then,  over 
one-third  of  the  Russians  are  illiterate  it  is  not 
strange  that  they  do  not  learn  English,  especially 
when  it  is  realized  that  they  are  practically  isolated 
from  Americans  and  that  they  live,  sleep  and  work 
together.  Since  an  average  of  35  per  cent  are  illiter 
ate  and  a  much  larger  number  can  read  but  little  in 
their  own  language,  how  can  we  expect  them  to 
keep  up  with  a  mixed  class  of  various  nationalities? 
In  Mr.  Cole's  study  in  Chicago,  out  of  112  Russian 
workmen,  80  said  they  could  speak  some  English, 
but  only  12  claimed  to  be  able  to  read  it,  and  in 
the  case  of  these  12  no  test  was  made.  The  fact 
is  that  there  have  been  few  scientific  attempts  made 
to  understand  how  to  help  the  Russian  learn  English. 
As  Professor  Petrunkevitch  of  Yale  says : 

Although  ostensibly  for   the  benefit  and   instruction  of 
uneducated  and  foreign  workmen  [the  night  schools]  are,  as 

20  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  Abstracts  of  Reports,  vol.  i, 
table  77,  pp.  438-442. 

21  Calculated   from  the   U.   S.  Bureau   of   Immigration,  Annual 
Reports   of  the   Commissioner-General,  table   7,  pp.  20-21,    1910; 
pp.  20-21,  1911;  pp.  74-75,  1912;  pp.  46-47,  1913;  pp.  42-43,  1914. 


Organized  Social  Forces  in 

at  present  constituted,  in  reality  of  very  little  help.  The 
Russian  workman  has  first  to  learn  English  before  he  can 
understand  instruction  in  other  subjects ;  but  even  in  this,  he 
becomes  quickly  discouraged.  He  is  a  stranger  to  the 
teacher,  who  does  not  take  into  account  his  peculiar  psychol 
ogy.  A  few  days,  perhaps  a  few  weeks  of  most  strenuous 
work  in  the  evening  after  the  day's  work  at  the  factory,  and 
the  Russian  workman  gives  up  in  despair.22 


Russian  Non-Political  Organizations 

In  spite  of  the  agencies  we  have  listed,  the 
foreign-born  Russians  in  the  aggregate  are  largely 
untouched.  Probably  more  have  been  reached  by 
the  Foreign  Language  Information  Service  than  by 
any  other  means,  for  in  addition  to  other  methods, 
it  sends  out  information  through  the  Russian 
press. 

The  Russians  have  a  mass  of  organizations  of 
the  small  non-political  type  in  various  parts  of 
America.  There  are  a  few  trade  unions  which  are 
either  Russian  or  else  have  Russian  branches — for 
example,  the  Russian-Polish  department  of  the 
Union  of  Cloakmakers,  the  Russian  branch  of  the 
Union  of  Men's  and  Women's  Garment  Workers, 
the  Society  of  Russian  Bootmakers,  and  the  Society 
for  Russian  Mechanics.  All  of  these  admit  Russian 
Jews  as  well  as  other  Russian  nationalities. 

There  are  also  cultural-educational  societies,  of 

22  Petrunkevitch,  Alexander,  "The  Russian  Problem  in  the  United 
States,"  The  Standard,  Feb.,  1920,  p.  176. 


H2  The  Russian  Immigrant 

which,  perhaps,  the  largest  is  Nauka  (Science). 
This  was  organized  in  1905  and  had  in  1918  six 
branches.23  Besides  paying  a  sick  benefit  of  $5  a 
week  and  $200  in  case  of  death,  the  society  has  a 
reading  room  and  organizes  lectures,  concerts  and 
socials.  Other  similar  ones  are  Znamenie  (The 
Sign),  Samo  Obrazovanie  (The  Society  of  Self- 
Education),  Prosvishenie  (Enlightenment),  and  the 
Society  of  Russian  Citizens.  In  Boston  and  some 
other  places  there  are  branches  of  a  Society  of 
Mutual  Aid  for  Russian  Workers.  It  is  their  aim 
to  have  one  member  who  will  be  expert  on  some  one 
particular  need  of  the  Russian,  such  as:  sending 
money  to  Russia,  purchasing  steamship  tickets, 
employment,  housing,  and  so  forth.  Since  the 
organization  is  poor,  all  such  activities  have  to  be 
carried  on  voluntarily.  The  regulations  of  the 
society  recognize  the  dangers  involved  and  provide 
that  no  one  so  appointed  shall  have  a  secret  arrange 
ment  with  any  company  or  agent  whereby  he  makes 
a  profit. 

In  the  past  few  years  a  number  of  societies  have 
sprung  up  which  relate  directly  to  the  Russian 
revolution.  Thus,  in  Los  Angeles,  there  was  formed 
a  Society  to  Help  Free  Russia;  in  other  places  there 
were  organizations  for  the  sending  home  of  political 
emigrants.  While  these  sound  very  well  as  names, 
in  practice  most  of  them  are  very  small  and  at 

23  Vilchur,  M.,  The  Russians  in  America,  op.  cit.,  pp.  124-125  (tr. 
from  the  Russian). 


Organized  Social  Forces  113 

best  serve  as  centers  providing  a  social  rendezvous 
and  an  occasional  lecture,  but  rarely  affording  any 
contacts  with  Americans  or  giving  much  information 
on  America.  Two  Russian  educational  institutions 
are,  however,  doing  extensive  work.  One  is  the 
Russian  Collegiate  Institute  in  New  York  City, 
which  received  a  grant  of  $10,000  from  the  Carnegie 
Foundation  and  raised  $6,000  from  other  sources. 
Its  purpose  is  "to  offer  to  Russian  workmen  within 
a  small  radius  of  New  York  City  useful  knowledge 
which  will  enable  them  to  better  their  economic  and 
social  position."  24  All  political  subjects  are  for 
bidden  and  the  school  is  open  to  all,  whether  pro-  or 
anti-Bolshevik. 

The  institute  is  divided  into  three  departments :  ( I ) 
preparatory  or  night  school,  (2)  academic,  and  (3)  tech 
nical.  The  night  school  prepares  the  workmen  for  entrance 
into  such  institutions  as  Cooper  Union.  Instruction  is  given 
two  hours  every  evening  except  Saturday  and  Sunday.  The 
subjects  taught  are  English,  Russian,  geography,  history, 
arithmetic,  algebra,  trigonometry,  physics  and  chemistry. 

Besides  these  courses,  the  institute  is  carrying  on 
lectures  before  larger  groups  than  can  attend  the 
classes.  Its  secretary  claims  an  average  weekly 
attendance  of  1,400  from  January  to  May,  1921. 

A   similar    school,    called    the    Russian    People's 

24  From  an  article  by  Alexander  Petrunkevitch,  the  President  of 
the  Institute,  in  The  Standard,  Feb.,  i9zo,  op.  cit.,  pp.  177-178. 


114  The  Russian  Immigrant 

University,  was  started  in  Chicago  with  a  foundation 
of  $10,000  contributed  by  interested  Russians.  It 
has  adopted  also  a  non-political  attitude  and  in  May, 
1919,  had  an  enrolment  of  about  eighty.  The 
courses  in  agriculture  proved  to  be  the  most  popular 
since  many  Russians  desire  to  prepare  for  such  work 
in  Russia.  Undoubtedly  these  institutions  are  doing 
something  toward  giving  the  Russian  a  better  under 
standing  of  America,  but  they  exist  in  only  two 
cities.  Even  taking  into  consideration  all  the 
societies  mentioned,  the  Russian  is  relatively  unor 
ganized,  as  is  shown  in  the  1917  survey  of  E.  I. 
Omeltchenko,  already  mentioned.  He  concludes 
that  in  respect  to  organizations  the  real  Russians 
have  the  least  of  all.  "They  are  out  of  touch  with 
every  kind  of  cultural  and  educational  influence  both 
American  and  Russian."  25 

Russian  Political  Organizations 

Before  the  author  started  visiting  the  Russian 
colonies,  he  secured  lists  of  Russian  socialistic, 
anarchistic,  and  radical  clubs.  The  names  and 
addresses  included  over  200.  Probably  the  largest 
and  most  extensive  of  these  was  the  Union  of 
Russian  Workers,  which  has  branches  in  every  large 
industrial  center  and  in  many  small  mining  and 
manufacturing  communities.  It  unites  all  the  Rus 
sian  workers  affiliated  with  it,  regardless  of  their 

28  Omeltchenko,  E.  I.,  On  the  Question  of  the  Organization  of  the 
Russian  Colony  (N.  Y.,  1917),  p.  5.      (Cf.  footnote  Preface,  p.  viii.) 


Organized  Social  Forces  115 

trades,  into  one  revolutionary  organization,  endorses 
direct  action,  and,  in  general,  is  sympathetic  with 
anarchistic  theories.  Each  branch  is  composed  of 
not  more  than  sixty  members.  It  has  no  relation  to 
other  American  organizations,  although  it  is  in 
friendly  affiliation  with  some  Russian  anarchistic 
groups.26  Its  purpose  is  given  in  the  agreement  of 
the  Federation  of  the  Union  of  Russian  Workers 
of  the  United  States  and  Canada.27 

THE  FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE 
FEDERATION 

The  present  Society  is  divided  into  two  opposing  classes: 
on  one  side  the  unprovided  laborers  and  peasants  who  have 
created  the  world's  riches  with  their  labor;  on  the  other 
side  the  rich  men  who  grabbed  all  those  riches  into  their 
hands. 

Many  times  has  the  unprovided  class  arisen  against  the 
parasitic  rich  and  their  trusty  servant  and  defender,  the 
Government,  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  full  liberation  from 
the  yoke  of  capital  and  authority,  but  each  time  suffers 
defeat  because  it  does  not  know  clearly  the  ultimate  purpose 
and  the  means  whereby  to  gain  it  and  becomes  a  tool  in  the 
hands  of  its  enemies. 

The  strife  between  those  classes  is  continuing  also  at  the 
present  time,  and  will  be  finished  only  when  the  working 
masses,  organized  into  a  class,  will  understand  their  true 
interest  and  will  take  possession  by  means  of  forceful  revo 
lution  of  all  the  wealth  of  the  world. 

26  Ibid.,  p.  6. 

27  Translation  given  to  the   author  at  the   Detroit  office  of  the 
United  States  Department  of  Justice. 


n6  The  Russian  Immigrant 

Having  accomplished  such  transposition,  and  having  de 
stroyed  at  the  same  time  all  the  institutions  of  Government 
and  authority,  the  unprovided  classes  will  have  to  announce 
a  society  of  free  producers  who  will  be  anxious  to  satisfy 
the  needs  of  every  separate  individual  which  later,  in  turn, 
will  give  to  the  society  its  labor  and  knowledge. 

To  reach  our  purpose,  we,  first  of  all,  prove  the  necessity 
of  creating  a  wide  class  of  revolutionary  organization  of 
toilers,  which,  leading  a  direct  fight  with  all  the  institutions 
of  capital  and  authority,  must  teach  the  laboring  class 
initiative  and  self-action  in  all  its  undertakings,  developing 
within  it  in  this  manner  a  recognition  of  the  necessity  of 
the  unavoidability  of  a  Universal  Strike — Social  Revolution. 

Organizing,  therefore,  into  UNIONS  OF  RUSSIAN  WORK 
ERS,  WE,  as  a  part  of  the  toilers  of  the  whole  world,  will 
strive  in  all  our  future  work  that  the  principles  underlying 
the  Federation  will  always  be  a  leading  thread  in  the  matter 
of  organization  of  the  wide  masses  of  Russian  Immigrants 
for  the  speediest  liberation  of  Russia  and  of  humanity. 

In  spite  of  these  radical  statements,  the  unions 
are  in  reality  quite  peaceful,  according  to  E.  I. 
Omeltchenko,  and  existed  for  seven  years  without 
molestation  until  U.  S.  Attorney  General  Palmer 
declared  them  illegal.  They  did  circulate  a  surpris 
ing  amount  of  radical  literature,  however,  for  the 
author  found  the  following  pamphlets  in  Russian  on 
sale:28 

"What  is  Anarchism?"  by  Novomirski. 

28  The  titles  are,  of  course,  translations  from  the  Russian,  in  which 
the  pamphlets  are  printed. 


Organized  Social  Forces  117 

"God  and  Government,"  by  Mihael  Bakunin. 

"Manifesto  of   Anarchist-Communists,"   by   Novomirski. 

"Whom  Does  the  Soldier  Serve?"  Anonymous. 

"The  Question  of  Communism,"  by  A.  Karelin. 

"The  Chicago  Drama — First  of  May,  1886,"  Anonymous. 

"The  Moral  Beginning  of  Anarchism,"  by  Peter  Kro- 
potkin. 

"The  Speech  of  Matreni  Presashuk  before  the  Kiev  War 
Tribunal  the  igth  of  July,  1918." 

It  is  unnecessary  to  quote  from  these  for  the  titles 
and  authorship  show,  for  the  most  part,  that  they 
are  radical.  The  pamphlet  concerning  the  soldiers 
tries  to  prove  that  they  simply  serve  the  rich;  that 
on  the  Chicago  Drama  describes  America  as  a  land 
where  there  are  more  hungry,  more  oppressed,  more 
slaves  than  in  any  other  land.  It  tells  of  "the 
shedding  of  the  workers'  blood"  in  Chicago  by  the 
militia,  and  says  that  up  to  the  present  time  many 
thousands  of  people  have  lost  their  lives  fighting 
for  freedom  in  America,  and  that  the  laws  are  made 
simply  to  protect  the  power  of  the  rich  and  private 
property. 

One  of  the  most  dangerous  is  the  Manifesto  of 
Anarchist-Communists.  In  one  place  it  says :  "We 
may,  therefore,  formulate  our  tactics  thus:  By 
participating  in  the  struggle  of  the  working  class, 
guiding  it,  and  uninterruptedly  widening  and  deepen 
ing  that  struggle,  kindle  and  maintain  the  conflagra 
tion  of  civil  war  until  we  have  torn  up  by  the  roots 
Capitalism  and  Government."  These  pamphlets, 


n8  The  Russian  Immigrant 

however,  are  circulated  by  only  a  few.  Many  Rus 
sians  whom  the  author  interviewed  did  not  seem  to 
be  interested  in  the  propaganda  but  rather  in  having 
a  social  club  and  in  attending  classes. 

Besides  this  Union  there  are  many  branches  of  the 
Russian  division  of  the  Socialist  Party.  In  affiliation 
with  these  are  a  number  of  "Societies  for  the  Help 
of  the  Russian  Revolution."  In  1915  eighteen 
branches  joined  together  in  a  federation  representing 
300  members,  and  by  the  fall  of  1917  there  were 
29  branches  with  an  active  paying  membership  of 
600.  Following  the  revolution  the  activity  of  these 
branches  increased  to  such  an  extent  that  in  1919 
there  were  150  branches  and  over  12,000  members.29 
Moreover,  a  radical  element  that  did  not  believe 
in  parliamentary  procedure  began  to  agitate  in  favor 
of  direct  action.  Before  long  the  entire  socialist 
party  of  Russians  had  accepted  this  position.  There 
were  three  chief  reasons : 29a 

(a)  The  vast  increase  of  new  members, 

(b)  Allied  intervention  in  Russia, 

(c)  Dislike  of  Denikine  and  Kolchak,  the  leaders  in  the 
civil  war  against  the  Bolsheviks. 

Many  Russian  socialists  even  plotted  to  overthrow 
the  conservative  leaders  of  the  American  party,  but 
were  thwarted  when  the  executive  committee  threw 
out  all  non-American  citizens.  As  a  result  of  this 

29  Omeltchenko,  Russian-American  Register,  1920,  op.  cit.,  p.  232. 
29»  1 bid,  p.  232. 


Organized  Social  Forces  119 

action,  the  Russian  socialists,  together  with  radicals 
from  other  groups,  held  a  congress  toward  the  end 
of  1919,  which  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the 
American  Communist  party.  A  few  breaking  away 
from  the  others  joined  the  American  Communist 
Labor  Party.  Pravda  (Truth)  with  a  circulation 
of  between  three  and  four  thousand  was  one  period 
ical  which  supported  their  position.30  This  Com 
munist  Party  also  circulated  considerable  radical 
propaganda  and  in  1920  wholesale  arrests  of  Rus 
sians  followed.  The  radical  Russian  papers,  Pravda 
and  Novy  Mir,  were  suppressed.81 

In  spite  of  these  facts  concerning  the  activities 
of  the  central  organization,  many  of  the  socialist 
clubs  visited  by  the  author  appeared  to  cater  merely 
to  the  social  impulse  of  the  Russian.  As  is  usually 
the  case  where  some  definite  group  activity  arises, 
whether  it  be  in  connection  with  a  saloon  or  whether 
it  be  a  Communist  club,  some  useful  things  were 
accomplished.  For  example,  in  New  York  City 
during  the  spring  of  1918,  23  Russian  organizations 
joined  together  to  form  a  "soviet,"  32  with  head 
quarters  at  133  East  1 5th  Street.33  The  chief 

30  Ibid.,  p.  233. 

31  Although  not  used  as  authority  in  this  study,  the  Report  of  the 
Joint    Legislative    Committee    Investigating    Seditious    Activities, 
Revolutionary   Radicalism    (Albany,    1920),   in    Chaps,   v    and   vi 
pp.  739-818,  treats  of  the  formation  of  the  Communist  parties. 

32  A  soviet  is  a  council  made  up  of  the  representatives  of  various 
organizations  or  professions. 

33  Some  disbanded,  others  dropped  out,  and  in  1919  the  secretary 
said  there  were  only  thirteen  left.     The  principal  ones  were:  The 
Federation  of  Russian  Workers,  The  Society  of  Russian  Peasants, 


I2O  The  Russian  Immigrant 

feature  of  the  activities  in  the  building  was  the  Soviet 
School.  According  to  the  secretary  it  was  started 
by  placing  advertisements  in  the  Russian  papers  and 
by  holding  large  meetings  and  urging  enrolment. 
By  this  means,  in  1919,  over  300  paid  students  were 
secured,  and  there  were  more  applicants  than  there 
was  room.  Russian  and  English  classes  were  started 
first,  and  later  automobile  and  electrical  classes, 
courses  in  algebra,  history,  astronomy  and  agricul 
ture.  If  ten  students  desired  some  new  course,  the 
management  arranged  for  it.  If  even  a  single 
individual  left  on  the  ground  that  the  teacher  was 
not  satisfactory,  a  committee  was  appointed  to 
investigate.  Each  student  paid  ten  cents  an  hour 
for  his  class  and  each  teacher  received  a  dollar  and 
a  half.  While  undoubtedly  considerable  propaganda 
was  circulated,  the  majority  of  the  classes  were  in 
subjects  which,  by  their  nature,  are  not  easily  used 
for  that  purpose. 

In  Boston  the  author  visited  a  club  on  Dec.  14, 
1919.  Hanging  on  the  wall  was  a  certificate  of 
incorporation  which  read: 

Mutual  Aid  Association  of  Workmen  from  Russia  for 
the  purpose  of  paying  death  or  funeral  benefits  not  exceed 
ing  two  hundred  dollars,  and  disability  benefits  not  exceeding 
ten  dollars  per  week.  The  association  shall  maintain  a 
library  and  conduct  lectures  for  the  purpose  of  educating 
its  members  and  also  assist  them  in  raising  the  standard  of 

The  Society  of  Dock  Workers,  arid  two  anarchistic  groups  publish 
ing  Bread  and  Freedom  and  The  Workman  and  Peasant. 


Organized  Social  Forces  121 

their  living.  The  membership  is  limited  to  persons  of  Rus 
sian  birth  and  descent. 

The  charter  was  granted  by  the  State  of  Massachu 
setts  on  Dec.  6,  1915. 

On  the  walls  were  pictures  of  all  the  Russian 
revolutionary  leaders,  Gorky,  Lenin,  Trotsky  and 
others,  and  a  certificate  of  membership  in  the 
Communist  Party  hung  on  the  wall.  The  club  had 
both  men  and  women  members.  Classes  in  Russian 
and  arithmetic  met  nightly  and  all  the  leading 
Russian  daily  newspapers  were  accessible.  A  buffet 
which  served  soft  drinks  actually  paid  for  the  rent 
of  the  room,  which  was  twenty  dollars  a  month.  The 
club  also  maintained  a  school  for  the  children  of 
members  which  met  three  times  a  week.  As  far  as 
one  could  judge,  although  the  club  included  political 
elements,  it  also  met  a  legitimate  social  and  educa 
tional  need,  and  to  that  extent  was  constructive. 
After  listening  for  hours  to  study  classes  in  the 
various  Communist  clubs,  one  could  but  admit  that 
they  do  attempt  to  teach  their  own  members.  They 
also  have  merit  in  that  they  do  not  go  over  the 
heads  of  the  illiterate  workers.  Still,  such  clubs 
also  have  lectures  on  Communism  and  Bolshevism, 
and  there  is  little  doubt  that  part  of  the  propaganda 
work  then  going  on  in  the  club  just  described  was 
directed  against  our  political  system  and  American 
ideals. 

In  addition  to  these  groups  the  representative  of 


122  The  Russian  Immigrant 

the  Soviet  Government,  Mr.  Martens,  formed  a 
Technical  Department  of  his  Soviet  Bureau.  Its 
purpose  was  to  organize  and  register  all  the  tech 
nical,  industrial  and  professional  strength  of  the 
Russian  colony  in  America  to  aid  in  building  Russia 
into  a  Communistic  Socialistic  Republic.8*  As  was 
testified  to  in  the  deportation  hearing  of  Mr. 
Martens:  "This  section  has  organized,  throughout 
all  America,  associations  for  technical  assistance  to 
Soviet  Russia,  which  now  number  more  than  ten 
thousand  members."  85  The  societies  which  were 
organized  plan  to  send  not  only  workers,  but  also 
certain  branches  of  production  as  a  unit,  with  both 
machinery  and  workmen.  The  popularity  of  the 
plan  and  the  extent  of  sympathy  which  exists  toward 
Soviet  Russia  is  attested  by  the  fact  that  it  was 
possible  to  secure  10,000  volunteers. 

In  spite  of  all  that  can  be  said  in  favor  of  these 
educational  programs,  they  are  Russian  in  their 
make-up  and  scope  and  certainly  do  not,  in  the  main, 
make  the  Russian  love  America  or  her  institutions, 
nor  do  they  provide  contacts  with  them.  There  may 
be  a  few  Russians  who  can  say,  as  did  one  who  wrote 
to  a  government  bureau,  "The  American  socialists 
helped  me  to  love  America.  Then  I  understood 
that  America  is  not  only  composed  of  capitalists  and 

84  Circular  on  "Technical  Department  of  the  Soviet  Bureau  in 
America,"  published  by  the  representative  of  the  Russian  Socialistic 
Federated  Soviet  Republic  in  America. 

35  Brief  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Martens  argued  before  the  Department 
of  Labor  in  1921  (New  York),  p.  48. 


Organized  Social  Forces  123 

bourgeois.  Many  great  inventors  were  Americans." 
But  they  seem  to  be  rare.  For  the  majority,  such 
clubs,  while  fulfilling  a  perfectly  proper  and  natural 
educational  and  social  function,  actually  do  stimulate 
distrust  of  our  government  and  her  institutions. 

The  Russian  and  American  Press 

The  newspapers  and  journals  printed  in  Russian 
in  the  United  States  have  had  a  long  and  checkered 
career.  The  first  to  be  published  was  the  Alaska 
Herald,  a  bi-lingual  semi-monthly  periodical  in 
Russian  and  English.  The  English  material  was 
arranged  to  interest  Americans,  and  treated  phases 
of  the  political  and  social  life  of  Russia.  The 
remainder  gave  items  interesting  to  the  Russians 
about  American  life  and  laws,  or  about  the  Russian 
colonies  in  Alaska  and  San  Francisco.  It  was  not 
until  1889  tnat  another  periodical,  the  Sign,  a 
weekly,  was  issued ;  this  lasted  less  than  a  year.  From 
that  time  on,  there  has  been  a  constant  appearance 
and  disappearance  of  periodicals  and  newspapers. 
M.  Vilchur 36  lists  52  others,  of  which  18  were 
discontinued  during  the  first  year  of  publication,  12 
during  the  second  year,  7  during  the  third  year; 
only  5  are  now  published  in  1921.  Of  these  five  the 
oldest  started  in  1902. 

At  present  there  are  four  Russian  dailies  published 
in  the  United  States.  A  fifth,  the  Novi  Mir  (The 
New  World)  was  suppressed  by  the  Government  in 

36  Vilchur,  The  Russians  in  America,  op.  cit.,  pp.  114-117. 


124  The  Russian  Immigrant 

1920  because  it  was  affiliated  with  the  Communist 
Party  in  America.  The  I.W.W.  weekly  in  Chicago, 
however,  has  been  permitted  to  appear  regularly, 
and  is  sent  through  the  mail. 

The  history  of  the  Novi  Mir  is  worth  recording, 
as  showing  how  politics  enter  into  the  management, 
and  so  into  the  news  given  to  the  Russian  readers. 
The  Novi  Mir  was  founded  in  1911  by  the  Russian 
Socialist  Publishing  Association  and  represented  the 
Social  Democrats  or  Mensheviks,  as  the  party  is 
termed  in  Russia.  The  editorial  board  was  elected 
by  the  300  Russian  members  of  the  Socialist  Publish 
ing  Association.  At  first  the  entire  nine  members  of 
the  board  of  management  were  Mensheviks.  Grad 
ually,  after  the  paper  became  prosperous,  the 
original  300  members  dropped  away  until  there 
were  only  75  who  remained  active.  Now,  under 
the  rules  of  the  Association,  anyone  who  had  been 
a  member  of  the  Socialist  Party  for  six  months  could 
join  by  paying  one  dollar.  The  Russian  Bol 
shevik  sympathizers  decided  to  secure  control 
of  the  paper.  They  persuaded  Buharin  and  Chu- 
duafsky,  both  Bolsheviks,  to  come  from  Sweden 
in  1916  with  the  intent  of  placing  them  on  the 
editorial  staff.  Under  the  rules  of  the  manage 
ment  no  one  could  get  more  than  $15  in  this 
capacity  and  the  result  was  a  dearth  of  good 
writers,  so  that  it  was  easy  to  secure  the  positions 
for  these  able  writers.  Every  month  the  Bol 
sheviks  brought  in  new  members  to  the  Association 


Organized  Social  Forces  125 

until  they  had  secured  a  majority  vote  and  won 
control,  whereupon  all  the  Menshevik  members 
of  the  board  resigned.37  Leon  Trotsky  was  on  the 
staff  from  Jan.  15,  1917,  to  March  27,  1917.  In 
1916  the  Association,  because  it  was  opposed  to 
war,  passed  a  resolution  refusing  the  acceptance  of 
war  loan  advertisements.  In  October,  1917,  the 
second  class  mailing  privilege  was  withdrawn  by  the 
post  office  department.  In  November,  1917,  the 
paper  was  excluded  from  circulation  in  the  United 
Kingdom.  In  1918  many  copies  of  the  paper  were 
held  by  the  postal  authorities;  in  the  second  half 
of  July,  out  of  fourteen  issues  printed,  ten  were  so 
withheld.  By  August  12,  1918,  thirty-seven  issues 
of  the  paper  had  been  declared  non-mailable  under 
the  Espionage  Act.  On  August  I5th  a  disloyalty 
order  was  issued,  denying  the  paper  the  privilege  of 
receiving  mail.  In  1920  the  paper  was  raided  by 
agents  of  the  Lusk  committee  and  its  printing  presses 
were  damaged;  since  then  it  has  been  closed.  In 
1918  the  editor-in-chief  was  Gregory  Weinstein, 
who  made  the  following  statement  regarding  the 
paper,38  "Novi  Mir  is  a  revolutionary  Socialistic 
organ,  supporting  the  Soviet  government  of  Russia. 
There  is  no  connection  between  our  party  and  the 
I.W.W.  Some  of  our  aims  may  be  similar,  but  we 
do  not  work  together.  Novi  Mir  was  excluded  from 

37  According  to   Alex.   Gumberg,    a   member  of  the   Menshevik 
staff,  in  a  statement  to  the  author. 

38  From  an  unpublished   statement  as  given  to   a   representative 
of  the  Carnegie  Foundation. 


1 26  The  Russian  Immigrant 

the  mails  here  because  we  republished  in  our  columns 
an  article  from  the  Hearst  paper,  the  Washington 
Times,  which  said  that  the  money  to  carry  on  the 
war  should  be  raised  by  taxing  capital."  He  claimed 
for  the  paper  a  circulation  of  8,000. 

Two  of  the  four  other  dailies,  the  Novoye  R.USS- 
koye  Slovo  and  the  Russky  Golos  are  published 
daily,  including  Sunday,  while  the  Americanskiya 
Izvestia  and  Svobodnaya  Russiya  do  not  appear  on 
Sunday.  Ayer's  American  Annual  for  1921  gives 
the  circulation  for  Novoye  Russkoye  Slovo  as  32,256 
(P.  O.  statement)  and  the  Russky  Golos  as  35,143 
(published  statement).39  The  names  of  the  other 
two  papers  are  not  given  at  all.  Joseph  B.  Polonsky, 
already  referred  to  as  Manager  of  the  Russian  sec 
tion  of  the  Foreign  Language  Information  Service 
of  the  American  Red  Cross,  stated  that  the  sworn 
and  published  statements  were  worthless  and  his 
testimony  was  corroborated  by  Mr.  Vilchur,  one 
time  editor  of  the  Russkoye  Slovo.  In  the  opinion  of 
Mr.  Polonsky,  instead  of  32,000,  the  Novoye  Russ- 
koye  Slovo  had  a  circulation  of  10,000  and  the 
Russky  Golos  about  15,000.  He  thought  the  Ameri- 
kanskiya  Izvestia  had  a  circulation  of  3,000  and  the 
Svobodnaya  Russiya  3,000.  As  for  the  I.W.W. 
paper,  The  Golos  Trushenka,  instead  of  6,000 
claimed  by  the  management,  he  thought  no  more 
than  700  copies  were  sold.  It  must  be  remembered 

89Ayer,   N.   W.,   American  Newspaper  Annual   and  Directory, 
1921  (Philadelphia),  p.  1305. 


Organized  Social  Forces  127 

in  considering  such  figures  that  these  papers  circulate 
among  Jews  as  well  as  the  Slavs,  with  whom  we  are 
primarily  concerned. 

Besides  the  papers  already  named,  there  are  two 
brotherhood  publications  which  go  to  all  the 
members  of  their  respective  organizations.  Svyet, 
the  organ  of  the  Russian  Orthodox  Mutual  Aid 
Society,  is  a  weekly,  and  Pravda,  the  organ  of  the 
Russian  Brotherhood  organization,  is  a  semi-weekly. 
The  sworn  statement  of  circulation  of  Pravda  is 
io,2OO,40  but  only  3,000  reach  Russians.41  Svyet  has 
a  sworn  circulation  of  7,000,*°  but  the  great  majority 
are  Karpatho-Russians.42  Neither  paper  has  much 
influence  among  the  Russian  colony,  according  to 
Mr.  Polonsky.  The  Inter-Racial  Council,  after 
using  the  advertising  columns  of  these  two  papers, 
says:  "Experience  has  shown  us  that  these  papers 
have  very  little  effect  on  molding  the  opinion  of 
their  readers."  Most  of  the  readers  of  the  Brother 
hood  papers  also  have  access  to  the  Russian  dailies. 
In  view  of  the  large  circulation  of  the  latter,  and 
their  presence  in  every  Russian  club  and  library, 
and  since  they  were  regarded  by  all  the  Russians 
with  whom  the  writer  has  talked  as  the  most 
influential,  the  author  has  subjected  the  four  dailies 
to  a  special  analysis,  for  the  numbers  from  Jan.  15 
to  21,  1921 — a  single  week.  This  gives  at  least 
indicative  results,  since  the  papers'  general  make-up 

40  Ibid.,  op.  cit.,  p.  1305. 

41  Omeltchenko,  Russian-American  Register,  op.  cit.t  p.  214. 
42 1  bid.,  p.  212. 


128  The  Russian  Immigrant 

and  the  character  of  the  articles  are  fairly  uniform 
from  week  to  week.  Two  of  the  newspapers  were 
examined,  both  before  and  after  the  date  selected, 
and  no  particular  change  in  the  character  of  the  news 
from  that  of  the  week  selected  was  noted,  nor  was 
there  any  special  event  in  that  week,  which  would 
give  undue  weight  to  one  class  of  items.  The  purpose 
of  this  classification  was  primarily  to  discover  how 
much  space  was  devoted  to  America  and  her  insti 
tutions.  With  this  in  view,  the  main  classifications 
were:  A — News  Concerning  Foreign  Countries, 
B — News  Distinctly  American,  C — News  Relating 
Directly  to  the  Activities  of  Russians  in  America, 
D — Topics  Non-Classifiable  as  Strictly  American, 
Russian,  or  Foreign.  The  editorials  were  placed  in 
a  class  by  themselves  and  were  analyzed  separately. 
No  attempt  was  made  to  separate  news  from 
opinion.  Many  articles  were  a  clever  admixture 
of  both. 

Each  of  the  main  headings  was  further  subdivided 
and  a  considerable  number  of  items  were  classified 
as  to  whether  they  were  distinctly  favorable,  dis 
tinctly  unfavorable,  or  indifferent  to  the  subject 
heading.  After  reading  the  classification  given 
below,  the  method  should  be  clear  to  the  reader, 
but  a  few  concrete  illustrations  may  be  an  added 
help.  For  example,  when  one  newspaper  said  a 
law  was  reactionary,  this  was  considered  unfavor 
able  to  the  American  Government.  On  the  other 
hand,  an  item  reporting  the  Senate  as  considering 


Organized  Social  Forces  129 

the  passage  of  a  resolution  freeing  political  prisoners 
was  considered  indifferent.  The  term  American 
"imperialist"  was  included  with  that  of  employers 
and  capitalists  because  as  used  it  apparently  referred 
to  business  men  interested  in  foreign  trade.  Under 
the  heading,  Unfavorable  to  the  Methods  of  Ameri 
can  Educational,  Religious,  or  Welfare  Institutions, 
were  listed  the  attacks  against  the  American  public 
school,  the  Red  Cross  and  the  Relief  Administration. 
Items  relating  to  American  institutions  or  achieve 
ments  in  general,  such  as  an  account  of  the  develop 
ment  of  agricultural  machinery,  was  placed  under 
the  head  "6-9,  Other  News  About  America." 

The  writer  realizes  that  the  classification  of 
material  as  "favorable"  or  "unfavorable"  and 
"indifferent"  is  open  to  the  objection  that  it  is 
subjective.  Nevertheless,  most  articles  by  their  tone 
or  contents  indicate  rather  distinctly  whether  they 
are  hostile  to  American  institutions  or  whether  their 
effect  would  be  to  promote  good  will  toward 
America.  When  there  was  doubt  about  an  item,  it 
was  classified  as  indifferent.  Some  of  the  material 
which  would  be  considered  unfavorable  to  America 
by  many  Russian  readers  was  purposely  not  included 
as  such;  for  example,  such  items  as:  the  discharge 
of  a  teacher  in  Buffalo  for  belonging  to  a  radical 
party,  the  policing  of  the  city  against  reds,  the 
reduction  of  wages  by  an  employer.  On  the  other 
hand,  items  such  as :  U.  S.  Attorney  General  Palmer's 
action  in  arresting  Russians  reported  illegal,  the 


130  The  Russian  Immigrant 

killing  of  a  striker  by  a  United  States  soldier  and 
"the  terrorizing  of  the  countryside  by  soldiers"  were 
considered  as  unfavorable  material  because  of  the 
distinctly  hostile  tone  of  the  articles.  Although  a 
large  aggregate  of  unfavorable  material  was  found, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  the  tabulation  was  made 
while  there  was  still  considerable  feeling  over  the 
Russian  Revolution.  It  is  possible  that  the  results 
would  have  been  quite  different  two  years  later.  The 
classification  follows  for  the  four  papers,  showing 
the  amount  of  space  in  newspaper  column  inches : 43 

A.    NEWS  CONCERNING  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES 

Golos     Slovo    Izvestia  Russiya 

1.  Relating  to  Soviet  Russia 744       1,009          522          549 

2.  Relating  to  Other  Countries 715         408          319          534 

Total  Foreign  Countries 1,459       1,417         841       1,083 

B.    NEWS  DISTINCTLY  RELATING  TO  AMERICA  OR  AMERICANS 

Golos      Slovo     Izvestia  Russiya 

1.  American  Government: 

Distinctly  favorable o  o  o  o 

Distinctly  unfavorable 58  49  135  124 

Indifferent 25  74  50  24 

2.  American  History: 

Distinctly  favorable  to  America  o  44  o  o 

Distinctly  unfavorable o  24  o  o 

Indifferent o  o  o  o 

3.  American  Political  Parties 0300 

4.  American     "Imperialists,"     Em 

ployers  or  Capitalists: 

Distinctly  favorable  to  them..  o  o  o  o 

Distinctly    unfavorable 124  35  75  97 

Indifferent 27  o  22  33 

5.  Accidents  in  Industry o  9  o  o 

6.  Strikes  and  Labor  Unions: 

Distinctly  favorable  to  them.  .0000 

43  Width  of  columns  was  two  and  one-quarter  inches.     Headings 
were  included. 


Organized  Social  Forces 


Golos  Slovo  Izvestia  Russiya 
Distinctly  unfavorable  to  con 
servative  unions o  49  o             o 

Indifferent  to  them 55  31  29            40 

The  American  Press: 
Distinctly    favorable    to    some 

paper    o  o  o             o 

Distinctly  unfavorable 0760 

Indifferent o  o  o             o 

American  Educational,  Religious 

or  Welfare  Institutions: 
Distinctly    favorable    to    their 

Methods    o  o  o             o 

Distinctly  unfavorable o  o  18            31 

Indifferent 2  3  10             o 

Other  News  About  America: 

Distinctly  favorable  to  America  o  o  o             o 

Distinctly  unfavorable o  14  28            29 

All  other 1 1  34  72             6 

Total  Distinctly  Favorable o  44  o             o 

Total  Distinctly  Unfavorable.  ..  182  178  272          281 

Total   Indifferent    120  154  173          103 

Grand  Total  About  America  302  376  445          384 

C.    NEWS  DISTINCTLY  RELATING  TO  THE  ACTIVITIES  OF 

RUSSIANS  IN  AMERICA 


1.  Russian   Communism,    Socialism 

or  I.  W.  W.'ism  in  America 
(including  items  on  political 
prisoners  and  those  de 
ported)  : 

Distinctly  favorable  to  such 
forms  of  radicalism 

Distinctly  unfavorable 

Indifferent  

2.  Russian  Literature  or  Education 

for  Russians  in  America... 

3.  Religion    

4.  Recreation    

5.  Cooperatives   

6.  Other  Russian  Societies 

7.  Russian  Colonies  in  General 


Golos      Slovo     Izvestia  Russiya 


20 

0 

247 

0 

0 

O 

19 

22 

IOO 

126 

172 

299 

60 

0 

23 

60 

219 

96 

9 

2 

4 

19 

65 

3i 

37 

O 

283 

45 
o 

5 
47 

22 

5 
o 
6 
4 


Total    350 


480       1,083          134 


132  The  Russian  Immigrant 

D.    NEWS  NOT  CLASSIFIED  AS  STRICTLY  AMERICAN,  RUSSIAN  OR  FOREIGN 

Golos     Slovo     Izvestia  Russiya 

1.  Editorials    (classified   and   anal 

yzed  later) 126  182  212  192 

2.  Poems,  Stories  and  Anecdotes..  164  245  125  160 

3.  Crime    15  124  u  52 

4.  Remaining  Items 196  170  20  13 

Total    491         721         368         417 

Grand  Total  for  the  Week.  2,602       2,994      2,737       2,018 

The  large  total  of  unfavorable  material  is  signifi 
cant.  In  any  American  newspaper  there  would, 
no  doubt,  be  items  which  would  be  so  classified,  but 
there  would  also  be  compensating  favorable  articles 
which  in  the  aggregate  would  far  outweigh  the 
others.  In  all  four  newspapers  the  author  found 
only  forty-four  inches  of  space  which  seemed  to  him 
distinctly  favorable  to  America,  while  913  were 
distinctly  unfavorable.  Even  if  the  evaluation  of 
the  items  given  above  is  disregarded,  the  amount 
of  space  given  to  the  various  subjects  is  significant. 

In  the  Golos  and  Russiya,  over  one-half  of  all  the 
items  are  devoted  to  foreign  countries  and  over 
one-quarter  to  Soviet  Russia.  In  the  Slovo  over 
one-third  of  the  space  was  filled  with  material 
relating  to  Soviet  Russia  and  nearly  half  to  foreign 
countries,  while  the  Izvestia,  which  gives  the  least 
space  of  all  to  foreign  affairs,  devotes  nearly  one- 
third  of  the  paper  to  them.  To  things  American, 
in  the  Golos,  there  was  only  a  total  of  302  inches  of 
space,  and  206  inches  of  this  were  devoted  to  items 
about  imperialists,  capitalists,  employers,  strikes, 


Organized  Social  Forces  133 

and  labor  unions — all  topics  likely  to  give  a  foreign 
worker  an  unfavorable  impression.  In  the  Slovo, 
376  inches  of  space  were  found  relating  to  America, 
but  about  one-third  were  on  these  same  subjects, 
and  178  inches  of  space  seemed  to  the  writer  of  the 
present  monograph  to  be  unfavorable  to  America 
in  the  sense  primarily  discussed.  The  Izvestia  and 
Russiya  had  a  slightly  larger  amount  of  space 
devoted  to  American  items,  but  their  aggregate  of 
unfavorable  material  was  also  greater  by  nearly 
200  inches.  None  of  the  papers  had  anything  of 
importance  about  our  American  newspapers,  but 
what  seemed  far  more  unfortunate  was  the  dearth 
of  information  about  American  educational,  relig 
ious  or  welfare  institutions.  In  the  news  of  the 
activities  of  Russians  in  America  considerable 
attention  was  turned  to  Russian  education,  partly, 
as  was  stated,  for  the  purpose  of  stimulating  the 
reader  to  be  ready  to  return  to  Soviet  Russia  when 
it  was  possible  to  do  so.  But  not  a  single  item 
mentioned  such  a  thing  as  classes  in  English.  There 
was  considerable  story  material,  which  did  not  seem 
to  have  particular  educational  value.  All  the  papers 
are  to  be  commended  in  having  little  or  no  space 
advertising  crime,  and  even  the  Slovo,  which  had 
over  double  that  in  any  of  the  others,  gave  it  only 
124  inches. 

Besides  the  above  classification  of  all  the  news,  an 
analysis  of  the  editorials  as  to  content  and  space 
is  an  indication  of  the  policy  of  the  papers.  This 


134  The  Russian  Immigrant 

analysis  follows  for  each  newspaper  separately,  with 
the  translation  of  the  heading  in  quotation  marks 
and  a  condensed  indication  of  the  character  of  the 
editorial.44 

THE  RUSSKY  GOLOS 

1.  "An  Elderly  Man  Joins  the  Ranks  of  the     14  inches 

Communists" 

Applauds  Anatole  France  for  his  deci 
sion. 

2.  "Keeper  of  the  Public  Order"  14 

About  the  corruption  of  our  police  force 
in  the  cities.  One  sentence  reads,  "Bribe- 
taking,  that  disease  of  the  American  po 
lice,  is  similar  to  the  same  malady  under 
the  old  Tsar's  order  with  this  difference, 
that  there  it  permeated  all  through  from 
top  to  bottom,  while  with  the  American 
police  it  is  rare  among  the  rank  and  file 
but  occurs  at  the  top." 

3.  "Bakhmeteff  Goes  to  Paris"  10 

Harding  and  the  new  administration 
must  demand  an  accounting  from  Bakh 
meteff  for  the  American  money  he  has 
spent. 

4.  "Echoes  of  Wrangel"  18      " 

Scathing  attack  on  France  for  helping 
Wrangel  against  Soviet  Russia. 

5.  "  'If    the    Child    Were    Not    Afraid,    He     30      " 

Would  Not  Cry'  " 

44  The  translations  given  are  only  roughly  made  in  the  sense  that 
individual  words  may  have  been  loosely  rendered,  but  the  sentences 
as  a  whole  express  the  spirit  of  the  Russian  text. 


Organized  Social  Forces  135 

The  Soviets  are  no  longer  afraid ;  hence 
the  capitalists  all  over  the  world  have 
given  up  using  the  phrase  "the  impending 
fall  of  Soviet  Russia." 

6.  "The  Polish  Nobility  and  the   Polish   Sol-      16  inches 

diers" 

The  Polish  nobility  deceived  the  workers 
into  fighting  Russia.  Now  the  workers 
pay  for  it  with  hunger  and  defeat. 

7.  "Major  Allen  Astonished"  8      " 

The  Red  Cross  now  admits  that  ninety 
per  cent  of  the  parents  of  the  children 
sent  to  Soviet  Russia  are  still  alive. 

8.  "The  Next  Step— for  the  Americans"  16      " 

On  the  departure  of  the  Soviet  Bureau, 
"Soviet  Russia  has  done  everything  she 
could  to  open  trade  and  make  peace  with 
America;  the  next  step  rests  with  Amer 
ica." 


NOFOYE  RUSSKOYE  SLOVO 

What  Will  the  State  Department  Admit?"  8 
Attacks  the  Department  on  its  record  re 
garding  Russia.  One  sentence  reads,  "It 
is  certainly  astonishing  that  serious  peo 
ple,  government  people,  wish  after  this  to 
make  the  public  believe  that  America  has 
been  faithful  in  her  relationships  to  Rus 
sia." 

'Again  'Constitutional  Assembly'  '  16 

Attacks  as  counter-revolutionary  the  so- 
called     "Constitutional     Assembly"     of 


136  The  Russian  Immigrant 

Kerensky  and  Milyukov  which  is  meet 
ing  in  Paris. 

3.  "Five  Months"  8  inches 

Congratulates  the  Novoye  Russkoye  Slovo 
on  the  fifth  month  of  the  new  manage 
ment  of  the  paper. 

4.  "The  Question  of  Russia  in  the  Senate"  12      " 

Endorses  Senator  France's  resolution 
favoring  trade  with  Russia  and  states 
that  responsible  representatives  of  the 
Russians  in  America  should  be  heard  in 
the  Senate  Committee. 

5.  "Protection  Against  Disorderly  Conduct"         12 

Criticizes  a  man  for  attacking  the  Soviet 
regime.  The  blockade  has  made  the  facts 
difficult  to  obtain;  a  better  protection 
against  radicalism  would  be  cultural 
propaganda. 

6.  "Minister  Briand"  10      " 

His  attitude  toward  Russia. 

7.  "The  Staff  of  the  Workers' '  Paper"  24      " 

Attacks  the  Amerikanskiya  Izvestia. 

8.  "The   Senate  Considers   Bakhmeteff's   Mil-     24      " 

lions" 

Says  the  Russian  colony  and  part  of  the 
Russian  press  can  give  the  Senate  inter 
esting  information  about  the  use  by 
Bakhmeteff  of  the  American  people's 
dollars. 

9.  "How  You  Are  Trusted,  Comrade-Work-     18      " 

ers" 
Attacks   the   other   paper  for   not  using 


Organized  Social  Forces  137 

union  labor.  Says  the  condition  of  labor 
ers  in  America  is  "inhuman." 

10.  "The  Resolution  of  Senator  Johnson  About     30  inches 

Siberia" 

Concerning  American  intervention  in 
Siberia ;  one  sentence  reads,  "Let  there  be 
light  in  the  dark  corners  of  American 
politics,  in  the  matter  that  served  the 
Japanese  imperialists  and  not  one  of  the 
American  or  Russian  people." 

11.  "The  Departure  of  the  Soviet  Bureau"  20      " 

One  sentence  reads,  "If  it  were  possible 
for  the  Russian  colony  to  express  its  real 
feeling  they  would  have  given  Martens 
an  ovation." 

AMERIKANSKIYA  IZVESTIA 

1.  "Reaction  in  France  Grows"  25      " 

The  French  Government  now  declares  the 
General  Confederation  of  Labor  illegal, 
although  the  Confederation  has  previ 
ously  expelled  all  the  revolutionary  ele 
ment. 

2.  "The  Decay  of  the  Austrian  Government"     n      " 

Austria  is  bankrupt. 

3.  "The  Uniting  of  Russian  'Democracy'  "  22      " 

Attacks  the  "counter  revolutionary"  Rus 
sian  leaders  meeting  in  Paris  in  the  name 
of  democracy. 

4.  "The  Two  Revolutionary  Groups  in  Italy"     10 

The  workers  who  actually  seize  the  fac 
tories  are  far  better  than  those  who 
merely  talk  revolution. 


138  The  Russian  Immigrant 

5.  "Communication  with  Vienna  Broken"  1 8  inches 

There  is  a  rumor  that  Vienna  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  workers.  Since  they  are  in 
ternationalists  this  will  be  advantageous. 

6.  "America  on  the  Eve  of  a  Mighty  Strike"     21 

Three  millions  are  out  of  work.  The 
textile  workers  will  fight  against  wage  re 
ductions,  the  A.  F.  of  L.  against  the  open 
shop.  The  workers  demand  trade  with 
Russia.  The  strike  is  the  real  weapon, 
the  employers  the  real  enemy. 

7.  "Ambassador   Bakhmeteff  and   the   Scandal     24 

at  Washington" 

Senator  Norris  demands  an  accounting 
of  the  money  advanced  to  Bakhmeteff  by 
the  government.  One  sentence  reads, 
"The  advance  cost  the  Russian  people 
many  lives,  much  blood." 

8.  "France  'Draws  Out'  the  Reds"  10      " 

France  is  arresting  all  "reds,"  among 
them  some  Americans.  One  sentence 
reads,  "There  are  'reds'  who  are  not  Rus 
sians.  All  workers  are  'reds'  in  the  sense 
of  being  revolutionists." 

9.  "Wrangel's  Soldiers  Conspire"  21      " 

Now  at  last  his  soldiers  understand  the 
truth  of  the  revolution  and  refuse  to 
fight  against  the  Bolsheviks. 

10.  "The  Moscow  International  and  the  Break-     12 

up  of  the  Socialist  Parties" 
The   Moscow   International   has  divided 
the  Socialist  ocean  in  two. 

11.  "The  Rejected  Russians  with  Their  Fami-     38 


Organized  Social  Forces  139 

lies  Leaving  the  Borders  of  the  United 

States  To-morrow" 

A  stinging  editorial  against  Attorney 
General  Palmer,  the  United  States,  and 
the  capitalists.  In  speaking  of  what  the 
Russian  immigrant  finds  here,  it  says, 
''Instead  of  happiness — a  dried  up  piece 
of  bread,  the  sweat  shop  and  the  dark 
labor  of  the  galley  slave,  instead  of  peace 
— perpetual  ordering  about,  interference, 
and  in  the  end  deportation — that  is  the 
fate  of  the  Russian  worker  and  peasant 
in  America." 


SVOBODNAYA  RUSSIYA 

1.  "Does  Russia  Wish  to  Fight?"  26  inches 

Russia  has  always  desired  peace  but 
propagandists  and  counter-revolutionists 
continually  spread  lies  and  prevent  it. 

2.  "Bankrupt  Austria"  10      " 

The  Allies  laid  such  a  heavy  indemnity 
on  her  that  she  has  neither  bread  nor 
money. 

3.  "The  Labor  War  in  France"  16      " 

France  has  ordered  the  General  Federa 
tion  of  Labor  to  disband,  but  the  only 
result  has  been  a  labor  war. 

4.  "An  Unsuccessful  Adventure"  14      " 

Poland  is  criticized  for  attempting  to 
seize  Vilna  and  Grodna. 

5.  "Russia  Still  in  Disgrace"  2O      " 


140  The  Russian  Immigrant 

America  preaches  humanity,  justice,  and 
democracy  but  does  not  practice  these 
principles  toward  Russia.  "In  the  parts 
of  Russia  under  the  control  of  the  White 
Guard,  America  spends  4,400,000  dollars 
but  in  Soviet  Russia,  nothing." 

6.  "Industrial  America  and  Russia"  16  inches 

There  should  be  trade  between  America 
and  Russia. 

7.  "Unemployment  in  England"  18 

England  is  condemned  for  wasting  her 
efforts  on  Ireland  and  India  when  she 
has  a  million  unemployed. 

8.  "A  Summons  to  Disarmament"  18      " 

General  Bliss  and  Lloyd  George  are 
among  those  who  urge  disarmament,  but 
it  remains  talk  and  not  action.  In  the 
meanwhile,  the  harsh  peace  points  towards 
war. 

9.  "Afraid  of  Russia's  Being  Recognized"  20      " 

Russian  counter-revolutionists  urge  inter 
vention  because  they  fear  recognition. 

10.  "Discord  between  the  Allies"  19      " 

France  and  England  disagree  over  Tur 
key,  Germany,  and  Russia.  Some  are 
benefiting  because  of  this,  the  worst  ele 
ments  in  Turkey,  for  instance. 

11.  "Again  the  White  Guards"  15      " 

Internal  and  external  foes  fall  on  Rus 
sia,  yet  when  she  arms  to  meet  the  attack, 
the  White  Guards  cry,  "Russia  is  mili 
taristic." 


Organized  Social  Forces  141 

In  the  Go/05,  every  single  editorial  except  one 
within  the  week  examined  related  directly  or  indi 
rectly  to  Soviet  Russia  and  that  one  was  a  discussion 
of  the  corruption  connected  with  municipal  police  in 
America.  In  the  Slovo  every  editorial  related  to 
Soviet  Russia  except  three,  which  dealt  with  a  rival 
newspaper.  In  the  Izvestia  every  editorial  except 
three  dealt  with  conditions  in  foreign  countries.  Of 
the  three  exceptions,  one  condemned  America,  an 
other  urged  the  strike  as  the  only  real  weapon  of  the 
workers,  and  the  third  accused  the  United  States 
of  advancing  money,  which  action  resulted  in  the 
loss  of  many  Russian  lives.  In  the  Russiya,  besides 
an  editorial  stating  that  the  world  is  more  likely  to 
get  war  than  disarmament,  only  two  dealt  with 
America.  One  of  these  urged  trade  between  Soviet 
Russia  and  America,  the  other  accused  America  of 
hypocrisy  in  preaching  humanity  and  not  helping 
Soviet  Russia. 

If  the  editorials  are  any  criterion  of  the  policy 
of  the  paper,  none  of  these  newspapers  gives  its 
readers  much  that  is  favorable  to  America,  while  all 
give  some  space  to  that  which  is  unfavorable.  Part 
of  this  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  revolutionists 
who  have  been  driven  out  from  a  Tsar's  despotism 
have  often  become  influential  in  the  policy  of  the 
Russian  press  in  this  country.  Moreover,  the 
content  of  the  newspapers  is  largely  devoted  to 
Russia  and  Russians.  It  seems  only  natural  that 
this  should  be  so,  for  like  individuals  are  interested 


142  The  Russian  Immigrant 

in  like  things.  Their  newspapers  are  mechanisms 
for  the  dissemination  of  information  interesting  to 
a  particular  group  who  differ  in  language,  traditions, 
and  experience  from  Americans.  Their  support 
comes  from  aliens  who  are  Russians,  out  of  touch 
with  the  best  of  America,  and  it  is  to  be  expected 
that  they  would  discuss  the  life  of  Russians  in 
America,  and  the  condition  of  the  homeland.  The 
material  presented  about  Soviet  Russia  is  decidedly 
favorable  to  the  Bolsheviks.  The  Russian  immi 
grants  in  America  know  from  personal  experience 
something  of  the  tyrannous  character  of  the  Tsar's 
government,  and  from  what  they  read  in  their 
papers  might  well  think  the  Bolshevik  government 
good.  This  makes  the  treatment  of  Bolshevism  by 
our  American  press  stand  out  in  striking  contrast. 
Comparatively  few  Russians  are  able  to  read  Ameri 
can  papers,  but  most  of  them  have  heard  that  the 
attitude  which  is  taken  therein  toward  Soviet  Russia 
is  hostile. 

Summary 

In  this  chapter  we  have  seen  that  the  organized 
religious  and  educational  forces  which  surround  the 
Russian  Slav  are  largely  foreign  and  un-American. 
The  Greek  Orthodox  Church  came  to  this  country 
during  the  reign  of  the  Tsar,  and  was  aided  by  the 
Tsar's  money.  At  best  it  is  a  Russian  influence, 
binding  its  adherents  to  the  old  religious  ceremonials 
and  retaining  the  mother-tongue.  Following  the 


Organized  Social  Forces  143 

revolution  many  were  alienated  from  its  support 
because  it  failed  to  endorse  the  revolution  enthusi 
astically.  The  work  of  the  American  Protestant 
Church  with  this  nationality  is  slight  and  is  along 
denominational  and  theological  lines  rather  than 
social.  American  public  and  private  agencies  are 
striving  to  help  the  Russian,  together  with  other 
foreign  groups,  but  the  magnitude  of  the  problem  of 
all  the  varied  foreign-born  has  prevented  them  from 
reaching  the  great  majority  of  Slavs.  The  barrier 
of  illiteracy,  and  one  of  the  most  difficult  European 
languages,  has  made  a  concentration  on  other 
nationalities  the  easiest  course.  The  organizations 
which  the  Russians  themselves  have  created  are 
more  potent,  but  they  are  largely  radical  and 
nationalistic.  The  Russian  press  in  America  prints 
little  about  America  and  some  of  what  it  does  print 
is  distinctly  antagonistic  to  our  government  and 
institutions.  As  was  found  in  regard  to  other  condi 
tions,  the  educational  and  religious  opportunities 
open  to  Russians  afford  little  chance  for  contacts 
with  American  life. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  RUSSIAN'S  RELATION  TO  OUR  GOVERNMENT 
Legislation 

UNDER  usual  circumstances  the  ordinary  Russian 
in  America  does  not  come  into  contact  with  our 
government  directly,  except  through  the  police  and 
the  law  courts.  He  is  nevertheless  markedly 
affected  by  certain  legislation.  The  prohibition 
amendment  makes  it  difficult  for  him  to  patronize 
the  saloons.  In  the  towns  there  may  be  none,  in 
the  cities  illegal  resorts  may  be  open  but  are  liable 
to  be  raided;  moreover,  the  liquor  is  expensive. 
Incidentally  the  constant  violation  of  the  law  which 
he  sees  going  on  everywhere  cannot  but  weaken  his 
sense  of  respect  for  all  legislative  enactments.  This 
may  be  augmented  by  violations  of  ordinances 
against  gambling,  or  even  expectoration.  If  he 
reflects  on  the  matter,  it  must  seem  strange  to  the 
Russian  that  in  Pennsylvania  a  Sunday  baseball 
game  is  illegal  but  that  there  is  no  prohibition  of 
the  seven-day  week  in  the  steel  mill.  A  Russian 
priest  made  the  comment  that  the  Bible  forbids 
work  on  the  Sabbath  but  says  nothing  against  base 
ball. 

Although  the  prohibition  law  touches  many  Rus- 

144 


Relation  to  Our  Government  145 

sians,  they  realize  that  it  applies  to  everyone.  It 
is  not  discriminatory  legislation.  There  are  a  num 
ber  of  state  laws,  however,  which  the  Russian  feels 
to  be  particularly  directed  against  foreigners  and  his 
tendency  is  to  overestimate  their  effect  on  him 
self.  Many  of  these  bills  are  passed  for  the 
commendable  purpose  of  either  compelling  him  to 
learn  English  or  of  stimulating  him  to  take  out  citi 
zenship  papers,  and  may  be  necessary  and  just.  On 
the  other  hand,  enforcement  of  such  legislation  is 
difficult  in  most  cases,  and  the  foreigner  who  is 
arrested  for  failing  to  comply,  is  likely  to  feel 
unjustly  treated.  To  cite  a  number  of  such  enact 
ments  : 

Kansas:  Unless  the  alien  has  filed  a  declaration  of  inten 
tion  to  become  a  citizen,  his  property  shall  escheat  to  the 
state,  in  the  event  of  his  death.1 

Massachusetts:  Applicants  for  admission  as  attorneys  at 
law  must  be  citizens  of  the  United  States.2 

Michigan:  Persons  not  citizens  can  teach  in  the  public 
schools  only  if  they  have  filed  their  intention  of  becoming 
citizens.3 

Nebraska:  All  public  meetings — political  meetings  or 
conventions,  the  purpose  and  object  of  which  are  the 
consideration  and  discussion  of  political  or  non-political 
subjects  of  general  interest,  or  relating  to  the  well-being  of 
any  class  or  organization — shall  be  conducted  in  the  English 

1  Laws  of  Kansas  1921,  ch.  185,  p.  278. 

2  Letter    from   the    Department   of   Education   of   Massachusetts 
to  the  author  cites  General  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  ch.  221,  sec.  37. 

3  State  of  Michigan,  General  School  La<w  (1919),  Act  220,  p.  HI. 


146  The  Russian  Immigrant 

language  exclusively;  providing  the  provisions  of  this  Act 
shall  not  apply  to  meetings  or  conventions  held  for  the 
purpose  of  religious  teachings,  instruction  or  worship,  or 
lodge  organizations.4 

Aliens  are  prohibited  from  holding  any  public  office  in  the 
state.5 

Aliens  may  not  teach  in  any  public,  private,  or  parochial 
school.6 

It  is  illegal  for  aliens  to  own,  keep,  or  have  firearms  in 
their  possession.7 

New  Hampshire:  The  exclusive  use  of  the  English  lan 
guage  in  all  schools  in  the  instruction  of  children  in  reading, 
writing,  spelling,  arithmetic,  grammar,  geography,  physi 
ology,  history,  civil  government,  music  and  drawing,  and 
the  compulsory  teaching  of  English  to  non-English  speaking 
persons  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  twenty-one  years  in 
evening  or  special  day  schools  is  required.  No  person  or 
corporation  shall  employ  an  individual  between  sixteen  and 
twenty-one  residing  in  a  district  where  there  is  an  adequate 
school,  unless  such  person  is  in  school  or  has  been  excused  for 
a  reason  satisfactory  to  the  commissioner  of  education.8 

Nevada:  Only  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  or  a  person 
who  has  declared  his  intention  of  becoming  one  shall  be 
employed  in  the  construction  of  public  works  or  in  any 
office  or  department  of  the  state.  Exception  is  made  in  the 
case  of  convicts,  and  exchange  instructors  in  the  University, 
from  North  and  South  American  countries.9 

4  Latvs  of  Nebraska   (1919),  ch.  234,  p.  991. 

5  Ibid.,  ch.  171,  p.  383. 

6  Ibid.,  ch.  250,  p.  120. 

7  Ibid.,  ch.  140,  p.  606. 

8  State  Board   of  Education,  Laws   of  New  Hampshire    (1921), 
sec.  10,  p.  24;  sec.  6,  p.  30;  sec.  40,  p.  39. 

9  Laius  of  Nevada  (1919),  ch.  168,  p.  296. 


Relation  to  Our  Government  147 

A  hunting  license  shall  not  be  issued  to  any  person  not  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States.10 

New  Mexico:  The  possession  of  a  shot-gun  or  rifle,  or 
the  hunting  of  wild  birds,  game,  or  fish,  by  unnaturalized, 
foreign-born  residents  is  prohibited.11 

Oregon:  It  is  unlawful  to  display  or  circulate  or  offer  for 
sale  any  newspaper  or  periodical  except  in  English  or  unless 
a  literal  translation  shall  be  conspicuously  displayed.12 

Utah:  Every  alien  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  forty- 
five  who  cannot  speak,  read  and  write  English  with  the  abil 
ity  required  for  the  completion  of  the  fifth  grade  shall  attend 
evening  school  for  at  least  four  hours  a  week  during  the 
time  there  is  such  a  school  within  two  and  one-half  miles 
of  his  residence.13 

Washington:  No  person  not  a  citizen  or  one  who  has 
not  filed  his  intention  of  becoming  a  citizen  shall  be  per 
mitted  to  teach  in  any  common  school  or  high  school.14 

The  vast  majority  of  Russians  are  but  little 
affected  by  such  legislation,  but  that  they  do  feel 
that  there  is  discrimination  is  shown  in  conversation 
with  them  and  in  items  in  their  press.  For  example, 
the  Russkoye  SIovo  for  April  13,  1920,  printed 
the  following  front  page  article  which  actually  men 
tions  nearly  every  one  of  the  laws  cited  above. 

10  Ibid.,  ch.  169,  p.  297. 

11  Letter  from  the  attorney  general  of  New  Mexico  to  the  author 
cites  State  of  New  Mexico,  Session  Laws  1021,  ch.   113. 

12  General  Laws  of  Oregon  1020,  ch.  17. 

13  Laws  of  Utah  1019,  ch.  93. 

14  Laws  of   Washington,  ch.  38,  p.  82. 


148  The  Russian  Immigrant 

LIMITATION    OF    LAWS    AGAINST    FOREIGNERS    IN    THE    DIF 
FERENT  STATES   OF   AMERICA 

Americans  cannot  understand  why  foreigners  who  have 
lived  here  for  a  certain  time  are  in  a  hurry  to  return  to 
their  home  country  at  the  other  side  of  the  ocean. 

******** 

The  foreigners  do  not  want  to  remain  inferior  workers, 
or  waiters  in  restaurants,  when  with  their  money  they  can 
lead  a  much  better  and  more  independent  life  at  home. 

Many  among  them  expect  to  become  farmers,  many  will 
go  into  commerce  and  industry  and  will  also  exploit  their 
own  people — America  has  taught  them  a  great  deal. 

But  big  American  industry  is  worried  by  this  migration 
en  masse,  it  has  become  interested  in  the  inner  life  of  the 
immigrant  and  has  discovered  a  number  of  laws  against 
foreigners  in  the  different  states  of  America;  here  are  some 
of  them: 

In  the  state  of  Nebraska,  the  foreigners  have  no  right  to 
have  meetings  except  for  religious  purposes. 

In  the  state  of  Oregon,  foreigners  have  no  right  to  read 
newspapers  and  magazines  which  are  not  printed  in  English. 
The  same  law  is  proposed  in  the  states  of  Maryland,  Ken 
tucky  and  New  York. 

In  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  the  foreigners  have  no  right 
to  keep  dogs  in  their  houses. 

In  the  states  of  Rhode  Island,  South  Dakota,  Massachu 
setts  and  New  York,  the  foreigners  are  subject  to  obligatory 
education  until  21  years  of  age.  The  citizens  are  free  from 
this  obligation  much  earlier. 

In  Utah,  the  law  about  obligatory  education  applies  to 
foreigners  up  to  45  years  of  age. 


Relation  to  Our  Government  151 

constructive  attempts  to  help  the  foreigner  adapt 
himself  to  American  life.  Some  are  a  part  of  the 
aftermath  of  war  and  are  likely  to  be  repealed. 
Many  able  American  workers  among  the  foreign- 
born  decry  much  of  this  legislation.  The  Associate 
Director  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  Language  Infor 
mation  Service  of  the  American  Red  Cross  has  pro 
tested  against  the  laws  hampering  our  foreign  lan 
guage  press.15  One  provision  of  "The  Trading 
With  the  Enemy  Act"  of  October  6,  1917,  especially 
annoying  to  Russian  publishers,  has  been  the  section 
which  compels  all  foreign-language  papers  either  to 
have  a  permit  from  the  Post  Office  Department  or 
else  to  file  an  advance  copy  of  all  matter  which  has 
to  do  with  the  war,  with  the  government  of  the 
country,  with  any  countries  involved  in  the  war,  or 
with  politics  in  general,  at  the  local  post  office  where 
it  is  censored.  This  law  is  still  in  force  in  1922 
despite  the  fact  that  we  have  long  been  out  of  a 
war  emergency.  The  additional  expense  involved 
for  the  Russian  newspapers  is  considerable. 

Probably  the  income  tax  law  has  caused  the  Rus 
sians  more  difficulty  than  any  other.  As  passed 
in  1913,  it  provided  for  the  exemption  of  people 
whose  income  was  $3,000  (if  single)  and  $4,000 
(if  married),  but  the  Treasury  Department  ruled 
that  the  exemption  "cannot  be  allowed  on  a  deduc 
tion  in  computing  the  tax  of  a  non-resident  alien."  16 

15  Cf.  New  York  Times  Feb.  13,  1921,  sec.  7,  p.  4. 
18  Treasury  Decisions,  vol.  28,  no.  i,  p.  26. 


152  The  Russian  Immigrant 

Any  alien,  however,  who  would  sign  and  swear  to 
the  following  declaration  would  be  considered  a 
resident:  "It  is  my  intention  to  establish  and  main 
tain  a  residence  in  the  United  States."  17  The  diffi 
culty  with  this  provision  was  that  the  law  and  the 
blanks  were  printed  only  in  English.  The  Russian 
had  no  means  of  knowing  that  such  an  exemption 
existed,  nor  was  he  willing  to  sign  his  name  to  a 
blank  which  he  could  not  read.  Bitter  experience 
with  various  kinds  of  exploiters  had  taught  some 
and  warned  others  that  a  signature  to  an  English 
statement  was  dangerous.  Furthermore,  the  Rus 
sians  were  afraid  that  if  they  signed  this  paper  they 
would  have  to  become  American  citizens  and  could 
not  go  back  to  Russia.  Many  of  them  had  wives 
in  the  old  country,  nearly  all  had  parents  or  brothers 
and  sisters  there  and  they  did  not  care  to  lose  the 
opportunity  of  seeing  them  again  at  the  close  of 
the  war.  Besides  all  this,  the  Government  was  at 
first  rather  lax  about  collections  and  many  Russians 
received  their  wages  without  deduction  or  difficulty 
of  any  kind. 

After  the  United  States  had  declared  war,  the 
Government  suddenly  began  to  enforce  the  provi 
sions  of  the  act  and  to  collect  the  back  taxes  which 
had  been  due.  For  those  who  had  money  in  the 
bank,  this  merely  meant  a  loss  of  savings  and  conse 
quent  misunderstanding,  but  where  there  were  no 
savings  the  collector  could  garnishee  wages.  Many 
17  Ibid.,  vol.  29,  no.  13,  p.  24. 


Relation  to  Our  Government  153 

Russians  suddenly  found  that  wages  were  withheld, 
without  understanding  why. 

Matters  were  thus  troublesome  enough  for  the 
Russian  in  1917,  but  in  1918  the  Government  decided 
to  hold  the  employer  responsible  for  withholding 
the  wages  of  the  non-resident  alien  to  satisfy  the 
income  tax  requirement.  The  employers  had  no 
staff  ready  for  this  task  nor  did  they  feel  it 
was  their  duty  to  explain  the  provisions  of  the  law 
to  their  employees.  The  Foreign  Language  Gov 
ernmental  Information  Bureau  of  our  Federal  Gov 
ernment  says  that  it  "has  complete  records  of  thou 
sands  of  aliens  who  were  overtaxed."  Of  one 
hundred  employers  the  Bureau  investigated,  only 
fifteen  took  the  trouble  to  explain  the  provision  to 
their  employees  in  their  own  language.  For  exam 
ple,  one  steel  company  employed  about  10,000  Rus 
sians,  who  were  entitled  to  tax  exemptions  if  they 
filled  out  the  sworn  statement,  but  the  company 
found  it  easier  to  continue  deducting  the  amount 
from  wages.18  They  had  not  the  office  force  to 
handle  these  blanks  and  the  inquiries  which  would 
result. 

The  hardships  caused  by  its  earlier  order  no  doubt 
influenced  the  Treasury  Department  soon  after  the 
armistice  to  rule  that  any  alien  who  would  sign  the 
following  statement  should  be  considered  a  resident : 
"I  am  living  in  the  United  States  and  have  no  defi- 

18  From  an  unpublished  investigation  of  the  Foreign  Language 
Governmental  Information  Bureau  transmitted  to  the  author. 


154  The  Russian  Immigrant 

nite  intention  as  to  when  (if  at  all)  I  will  make 
any  other  country  my  home."  19  Furthermore, 
employers  were  instructed  that  "an  alien  who  has 
been  in  the  United  States  for  one  year  and  worked 
steadily  for  three  months  for  the  same  employer, 
is  to  be  classed  as  a  resident,  if  he  has  no  fixed 
purpose  to  leave  the  United  States."  20  He  could 
thus  be  so  classed  even  without  signing  the  proper 
form.  This  gave  the  employer  an  opportunity  to 
withhold  the  tax  or  not,  largely  at  his  discretion. 
Furthermore,  the  Russian  did  not  understand  the 
income  tax  law  or  the  various  decisions  affecting 
his  payments.  The  statute  and  its  interpretations 
changed  very  frequently. 

In  February,  1919,  for  example,  it  was  further 
altered  so  that  the  amount  employers  were  to  deduct 
from  non-resident  aliens  was  increased  to  8  per  cent 
to  conform  to  the  law  of  19 18.21  This  created  still 
further  confusion.  Mr.  Polonsky  of  the  Foreign 
Language  Governmental  Information  Bureau  states 
that  "in  some  cases  8  per  cent  was  deducted  from 
non-resident  aliens,  in  others,  12  per  cent,  in  some 
others  only  2  per  cent."  One  letter  out  of  hundreds 
to  this  bureau  22  from  Russians  will  show  the  per 
plexity  of  even  the  educated  ones : 

19  Treasury    Department,    Internal   Revenue   Income    Tax   Form 
1078,  Official  Bulletin,  vol.  3,  no.  546,  p.  9. 

20  Instruction    Sheet    Issued    by    Local    Income    Tax    Offices    to 
Employees  of  Alien  Individuals. 

21  United  States  Statutes  at  Large,  6$th  Congress,  vol.  40,  part  i, 
sec.  221,  p.  1072. 

22  Foreign  Language  Governmental  Information  Service  Bureau. 


Relation  to  Our  Government  155 

Natrona,  Pa.,  April  5,  1919. 

I  beg  the  Russian  Bureau  to  help  me.  The  Russian 
immigrants  are  not  able  to  pay  the  war  taxes.  Some  time 
ago  I  read  in  the  papers  that  only  those  who  earned  more 
than  $1000  a  year  have  to  pay  the  tax  and  only  on  what  they 
earned  over  $1000,  and  I  have  paid  $12.07.  But  now  m 
the  factory  they  withhold  more,  and  tell  me  that  I  myself 
have  to  pay  $145  for  last  year,  and  if  I  have  to  pay  for  this 
year  also,  I  will  have  to  pay  more  than  $300.  And  so  I 
have  to  work,  but  do  not  get  money  to  live  on.  And  please 
explain  why  they  force  us  to  take  out  American  papers. 
Those  who  do  not  want  to  take  the  papers  are  put  out  of 
work.  And  if  I  take  the  papers  will  I  be  able  to  go  back 
to  Russia?  And  why  did  they  put  the  Russian  people  in 
such  helpless  position?  They  do  not  allow  us  to  return  to 
Russia,  and  here  it  is  now  impossible  to  live. 

And  I  beg  the  Russian  Bureau  to  answer  my  prayer,  and 
tell  me  what  is  going  to  become  of  the  Russian  immigrants. 

The  attitude  of  some  of  the  U.  S.  Internal  Reve 
nue  officers  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  the  presi 
dent  of  the  Russian  Society  of  Engineers  in  Chicago 
was  refused  an  exemption  blank  by  subordinates  in 
the  office  until  he  forced  the  matter  to  the  Assistant 
Collector  himself.  He  says,  "The  other  Russians 
do  not  know  where  to  get  their  rights  and  have  to 
take  out  first  papers,  or  pay  enormous  taxes."  22a  A 
government  agent  reports  that  in  a  large  Ohio  city 
"the  Assistant  Internal  Revenue  Officer  told  me  that 
he  believed  every  Russian  was  a  trouble  maker;  that 
since  these  Russians  do  not  want  to  take  out  their 

22a  From  an  unpublished  letter  of  which  the  author  has  a  copy. 


156  The  Russian  Immigrant 

first  papers  they  should  not  be  entitled  to  exemp 
tions;  that,  furthermore,  he  did  not  consider  it  his 
business  to  instruct  employees  how  to  proceed  with 
the  various  forms.  From  further  talk  with  this 
officer,  I  understand  that  no  Russian  will  ever  get 
justice  if  he  applies  to  this  office."  He  says  in 
regard  to  those  in  Pittsburgh,  "These  Russians 
decided  that  it  is  best  to  suffer  injustice  from  the 
American  Government  than  to  ask  or  insist  on  their 
rights.  Their  previous  experience  in  matters  of 
this  sort  has  taught  them  a  good  and  costly  lesson. 
Their  complaints  are  usually  unheeded,  and  call 
forth  new  repressions."  23 

From  all  this  the  reader  can  readily  understand 
why  the  Russian  is  not  favorably  impressed  with 
the  laws  of  America  as  he  knows  them.  There  are 
laws  existing  for  his  benefit,  but  the  Russian  is 
largely  unconscious  of  that  fact.  In  the  case  of 
protective  measures  such  as  accident  insurance,  they 
mean  little  until  he  has  been  injured  or  a  friend  hurt, 
when  the  award  seems  small.  In  the  matter  of 
safety  appliances  and  other  welfare  legislation,  the 
Russian  is  either  likely  to  know  nothing  about  them, 
or  else  to  feel  that  they  are  merely  a  part  of  his 
inherent  right.  Like  most  men  he  remembers 
annoying  laws  more  than  those  which  merely  protect 
common  rights.  Thus  the  legislative  aspects  of 
America  in  the  aggregate  probably  seem  unfavor 
able  and  their  net  result  is  to  make  for  hostility 
rather  than  friendliness  toward  our  Government. 

23  From  an  unpublished  letter  of  which  the  author  has  a  copy. 


Relation  to  Our  Government  157 

Agencies  of  Law  and  Order:  The  Police 

There  are  three  agencies  of  law  and  order  with 
which  Russians  come  into  very  close  contact:  the 
police,  the  courts,  and  the  agents  of  the  Federal 
Government.  The  policeman  is  an  ever  present 
fixture  of  neighborhood  street  life,  always  imminent. 
Although  he  does  not  trouble  the  Russian  much  in 
ordinary  times,  he  is  to  be  feared.  Those  who 
have  been  drunk  or  loitering  on  park  benches  may 
have  found  to  their  sorrow  that  he  could  arrest 
them.  If  a  housing  inspector  protests  against  fire 
escape  incumbrances  or  unsanitary  housing  condi 
tions,  it  is  often  a  policeman  who  makes  that  protest 
effective.  But  on  no  particular  occasion  does  he 
help  the  Russians  with  their  own  problems.  His 
other  duties  are  sufficiently  numerous  without  exer 
cising  himself  over  the  needs  of  the  foreigner  unless 
there  is  violation  of  the  law.  All  this  naturally 
makes  the  Russian  more  fearful  of  the  policeman 
than  friendly  towards  him  even  in  ordinary  times. 
During  a  strike  period  the  policemen,  special  depu 
ties  paid  by  the  companies,  and  the  mounted  police, 
all  are  grouped  together  in  the  mind  of  the  foreigner 
as  representatives  of  the  Government. 

The  writer  was  a  witness  of  conditions  in  the 
Lawrence,  Massachusetts,  Textile  Strike  in  1919, 
when  hundreds  of  Russians  were  affected.  With  a 
clergyman  of  New  York  he  was  forcibly  ordered 
back  off  the  public  sidewalk  simply  because  he  dared 


158  The  Russian  Immigrant 

walk  by  a  mill;  he  saw  the  police  ride  upon  the  side 
walk  following  strikers  peaceably  walking  along. 
Although  there  was  a  state  law  permitting  peaceful 
picketing,  he  heard  a  police  officer,  who  arrested 
Russians  on  strike,  swear  in  court  that  he  knew  of 
no  such  law.  He  saw  the  Russians  come  into  the 
union  meetings  with  heads  bandaged,  claiming  to 
have  been  arrested  and  beaten  by  the  police.  It 
was  the  same  in  the  U.  S.  Steel  Strike,  the  Russians 
recounted  scores  of  instances  of  alleged  mistreat 
ment.  To  cite  but  a  few:  Two  Russians  claimed 
that  they  attempted  to  go  to  another  town  in  Penn 
sylvania  during  the  strike,  but  as  they  jumped  off 
the  train  they  were  arrested  by  two  deputies  with 
drawn  revolvers,  and  forced  to  pay  a  fine  for 
vagrancy  besides  being  banished  from  the  town. 
Another  Russian  said  the  police  came  right  into  his 
house  and  arrested  him  without  a  warrant,  after 
his  foreman  had  begged  him  to  return  to  work  and 
he  had  refused.  The  priest  in  Braddock  told  the 
writer  that  in  a  strike  it  seemed  as  if  every  time 
two  Russians  were  together  on  the  street  speaking 
Russian  they  were  arrested.  According  to  the  testi 
mony  presented  in  the  two  volumes  of  the  Inter- 
Church  Steel  Strike  Report,24  these  incidents  are 
not  exceptional,  but  even  if  false  or  one-sided  they 
do  serve  to  show  the  kind  of  incidents  the  Russian 
has  heard  recounted. 

24  The    Inter-Church    World    Movement,    Report    on    the    Steel 
Strike    of   JQlQ,   op.    cit.,   pp.    238-242.     The    Inter-Church    World 


Relation  to  Our  Government  159 

Perhaps  harsh  treatment  is  to  be  expected  during 
a  strike,  but  the  unfortunate  social  result  is  that 
rightly  or  wrongly  it  prejudices  the  mind  of  the 
Russian  against  our  Government.  The  Inter-Church 
Commission  concluded  that  as  a  result  of  the  steel 
strike,  "great  numbers  of  workers  came  to  believe 
that  local  mayors,  magistrates,  and  police  officials 
try  to  break  strikes — that  the  local  and  national 
government  not  only  was  not  their  government  but 
was  government  in  behalf  of  interests  opposing 
theirs."  25 

Courts 

Not  only  does  the  Russian  dislike  our  police  but 
he  is  not  much  more  favorably  impressed  with  our 
courts.  As  far  as  his  experience  is  concerned,  this 
is  not  strange.  Nothing  has  been  written  in  recent 
times  which  points  out  so  many  injustices  in  our 
present  legal  machinery  as  the  bulletin  of  the  Car 
negie  Foundation  Justice  and  the  Poor,  "a  study 
of  the  present  denial  of  justice  to  the  poor."  In 
the  introduction,  after  recognizing  the  failure  of 
our  legal  machinery  to  keep  pace  with  legislation, 
it  pleads  for  the  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law 
and  says:  "For  no  group  in  the  citizenship  of  the 
country  is  this  more  needed  than  in  the  case  of  the 
great  mass  of  citizens  of  foreign  birth,  ignorant  of 

Movement,  Public  Opinion  and  the  Steel  Strike   (N.  Y.,  1921),  pp. 
174-220. 
25  Report  on  the  Steel  Strike,  op.  cit.,  pp.  238  and  242. 


160  The  Russian  Immigrant 

the  language,  and  helpless  to  secure  their  rights 
unless  met  by  an  administration  of  the  machinery 
of  justice  that  shall  be  simple,  sympathetic,  and 
patient.  To  such  the  apparent  denial  of  justice 
forms  the  path  to  disloyalty  and  bitterness."  28  The 
author  of  this  study  says:  "You  can  work  as  hard 
as  you  like  to  teach  the  foreign-born  resident  to  love 
American  institutions,  but  if  he  doesn't  get  fair 
treatment  when  he  comes  in  contact  with  those  insti 
tutions,  he  will  think  they  do  not  deserve  his 
respect."  27  Yet,  as  the  report  shows,  there  are 
three  things  at  least  which  prevent  the  foreigner 
from  getting  justice :  judicial  delays,  court  costs  and 
fees,  and  the  expense  of  counsel.  The  New  York 
State  Commission  of  Immigration  found 

serious  abuses  in  the  interpreter  systems,  on  which  the 
alien's  hope  of  justice  depends;  it  found  no  instruction  in 
our  laws  which  would  enable  a  well-meaning  alien  to  remain 
law-abiding  in  the  maze  of  our  complex  ordinances,  depart 
ment  regulations,  and  state  laws.  It  found  few  aliens  able 
to  appeal  their  cases,  so  their  sentences  were  heavy  and  their 
situation  was  hopeless  because  of  their  financial  inability  to 
obtain  a  full  review  of  their  case.28 

A  Russian  priest  in  Boston  asserted  that  most  of  the 
Russian  interpreters  in  court  were  dishonest,  usually 
charged  the  Russian  five  to  ten  dollars  for  their 
services,  and  were  even  open  to  bribery.  He  felt 
that  the  Russian  did  not  get  justice  in  our  courts. 

26  Smith,  R.  E.,  Justice  and  the  Poor  (N.  Y.,  1919),  p.  xiv. 

27  Davis,  Immigration  and  Americanization,  op.  cit.,  p.  725. 
'^Reports  of  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission  1910,  vol.  41,  p.  265. 


Relation  to  Our  Government  161 

Whether  or  not  this  judgment  is  too  severe,  it 
reflects  to  some  extent  the  viewpoint  of  his  class, 
and  that  it  has  some  basis  in  fact  is  shown  by  the 
investigation  of  Mr.  Smith  for  the  Carnegie  Foun 
dation,  already  referred  to. 

Federal  Agents 

It  was  natural  that  during  the  war  the  contacts 
of  the  Russian  with  agents  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  should  be  more  numerous.  There  were  liberty 
loans  to  be  raised,  there  were  disloyal  elements  to 
be  dealt  with,  and  there  was  an  army  to  be  con 
scripted.  Our  nation  was  at  war  and  in  the  endeavor 
to  win,  it  was  almost  unavoidable  that  little  time 
and  energy  should  have  been  devoted  to  observing 
scrupulously  the  rights  of  foreign-born  residents. 
Since  the  investigations  of  this  study  were  made 
immediately  following  the  war,  the  writer  naturally 
met  a  great  many  complaints  as  to  war  time  condi 
tions  and  methods.  These  may  or  may  not  have 
been  just,  but  are  worth  recording  briefly  because 
they  help  us  to  understand  the  mind  of  the  Russian. 
Some  Russians  seemed  embittered  by  "the  forceful 
methods  local  officials  followed  in  compelling  us  to 
buy  Liberty  Bonds."  "If  we  made  any  excuse  for 
not  buying  we  were  called  'traitors,'  'cowards'  and 
other  worse  words."  What  caused  more  ill  feeling 
was  the  placing  of  Russians  in  the  first  class  when 
they  were  entitled  to  the  fifth,  according  to  a  priest 
in  Boston.  One  in  Cleveland  said,  "The  Russian 


1 62  The  Russian  Immigrant 

workers  were  told  to  sign  a  paper,  not  knowing  what 
it  was  they  signed  and  afterwards  were  sent  to  war." 
In  Detroit  the  testimony  was  along  the  same  line, 
"Some  Russians  who  had  wives  and  children  were 
conscripted  as  soldiers  because  they  could  not  speak 
English  and  no  interpreter  was  provided.  They 
were  shamelessly  treated,"  One  Russian  who  was 
a  conscientious  objector  said  that  he  spent  seventeen 
months  in  the  Fort  Leavenworth  penitentiary  where 
there  were  eighty-seven  other  Russians  confined  for 
the  same  reason.  The  Baptist  pastor  told  the 
writer  that  this  man  was  a  very  faithful  church 
worker.  The  head  of  the  Russian  Consultation 
Bureau  in  Detroit  who  had  before  been  in  the  Con 
sulate  in  Chicago  stated  that  during  the  war  if  a 
Russian  had  a  wife  in  the  home  country,  he  had  no 
way  to  prove  it  and  so  was  compelled  to  serve  in  the 
army.  Mr.  Anderson,  formerly  head  of  the 
Y.M.C.A.  work  for  Russians  in  the  United  States, 
says: 

With  the  selective  draft  has  come  additional  misunder 
standing.  Not  knowing  the  language,  the  Russian  has  had 
difficulty  in  properly  filling  out  his  registration  card,  and 
in  many  cases  he  has  been  called  for  service  where  he  should 
have  been  exempted  or  else  put  in  a  deferred  classification. 
I  have  had  my  attention  called  to  literally  thousands  of  such 
supposedly  unjust  cases  resulting  from  misunderstandings. 
The  other  day  a  Russian  discharged  soldier,  who  has  a  family 
in  Russia,  told  me  that  he  filled  out  his  questionnaire  and 
asked  for  exemption  on  the  ground  that  he  was  not  an 


Relation  to  Our  Government  163 

American  citizen  and  was  married.  The  police  officer  to 
whom  he  gave  the  questionnaire  tore  it  up  and  told  him  he 
must  go  into  the  Army  whether  he  wanted  to  or  not;  yet 
according  to  our  laws  this  man  should  have  been  exempted. 
In  some  cases  he  has  gone  into  the  Army  as  a  volunteer  with 
a  burning  desire  to  serve  his  country,  and  in  the  training 
camp,  because  of  his  lack  of  knowledge  of  the  English 
language,  he  has  been  assigned  to  the  labor  battalion,  there 
to  spend  his  days  in  drudgery.  In  the  camp  he  has  been 
singled  out  by  the  thoughtless  American  soldier  and  officer 
and  has  been  insulted,  humiliated  and  held  up  to  ridicule. 
Such  treatment  has  not  inspired  in  him  a  love  for  America  or 
Americans.29 

Whether  or  not  the  procedure  of  a  particular 
draft  board  seemed  absolutely  fair  to  the  Russian 
depended,  no  doubt,  on  local  conditions.  At  any 
rate,  in  some  places  the  Russians  had  no  criticism 
to  make  of  its  action. 

The  methods  adopted  in  making  the  extensive 
raids  against  Communists  and  other  ureds"  were 
almost  universally  condemned  by  the  Russians  and 
seemed  to  be  the  cause  of  the  greatest  complaint. 
Between  November  i,  1919,  and  April  26,  1920, 
warrants  were  issued  by  the  Department  of  Labor 
for  the  arrest  of  6,500  aliens.  Approximately 
3,000  of  these  were  apprehended,  although  many 
others  were  temporarily  arrested  and  then  set  free.30 


29  An  unpublished  statement  transmitted  to  the  author. 
30Panunzio,  C.  M.,  The  Deportation  Cases  of  1919-1920  (N.  Y. 
1921),  p.  16. 


164  The  Russian  Immigrant 

Most  of  the  aliens  involved  were  Russians.31  Mr. 
C.  M.  Panunzio  was  given  access  to  all  the  original 
records  at  Washington  by  the  Department  of  Labor. 
He  also  interviewed  the  men  who  were  arrested. 
In  a  careful  and  scientific  study  of  200  cases  taken 
at  random,  148,  or  74  per  cent  were  Russians.32 
Of  those  who  were  actually  deported  almost  all  were 
Russians.33  The  arrests  were  made  very  largely  in 
two  raids,  one  on  the  night  of  November  7,  1919, 
against  the  Union  of  Russian  Workers,  the  other 
on  January  2,  1920,  against  the  Communist  Party  of 
America.  Those  who  were  attending  schools, 
clubs,  workingmen's  associations,  labor  unions  and 
political  parties  were  taken  into  custody,  even  church 
settlements  were  not  always  immune.  Often  all  the 
persons  on  the  premises  were  arrested  indiscrimi 
nately  regardless  of  whether  or  not  their  names  and 
history  were  known,  and  regardless  of  the  lack  of 
evidence  against  them.  Property  was  destroyed, 
and  printed  matter  seized  and  held  without  war 
rant.34  Here  again  it  must  be  remembered  that 
although  nearly  a  year  had  elapsed  since  the  armis 
tice,  our  country  was  still  technically  at  war.  The 
social  mind  had  been  sorely  disturbed  by  publicity 

31  Letter   from   the   Assistant   Secretary   of  Labor,   Mr.   Post,   to 
the  author. 

32  Panunzio,  op.  cit.,  p.  17. 

33  Department   of   Labor,   Annual  Reports  for  1920,   "Report  of 
the  Commissioner  General  of  Immigration,"  pp.  312-315. 

34  Cf.  Panunzio,  op.  cit.,  pp.  24-34  an^  Report  of  the  U.  S.  At 
torney    General   1920,   op.   cit.,  pp.    174-177    and   Report   upon   the 
Illegal  Practices  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Justice   (Washington, 
1920),  pp.  4-5,  11-43. 


Relation  to  Our  Government  165 

concerning  alleged  German  and  Bolshevik  plots. 
There  were  radical  and  dangerous  aliens  stirring  up 
dissension,  and  in  securing  their  arrest  mistakes  were 
inevitable.  Apparently,  however,  there  were  inex 
cusable  things  done  and  many  Russians  suffered 
grievous  wrongs  which  rankle  in  their  minds  to-day. 
A  report  entitled  Illegal  Practices  of  the  United 
States  Department  of  Justice  discussing  the  methods 
used  in  these  raids  was  issued  in  May,  1920,  by 
twelve  eminent  lawyers  headed  by  Dean  Pound  of 
the  Harvard  Law  School.  It  says: 

Under  the  guise  of  a  campaign  for  the  suppression  of 
radical  activities,  the  office  of  the  Attorney  General,  acting 
by  its  local  agents  throughout  the  country,  and  giving  express 
instructions  from  Washington,  has  committed  continual 
illegal  acts.  Wholesale  arrests  both  of  aliens  and  of  citizens 
have  been  made  without  warrant  or  any  process  of  law; 
men  and  women  have  been  jailed  and  held  incommunicado 
without  access  of  friends  or  counsel ;  homes  have  been  entered 
without  search-warrant  and  property  seized  and  removed ; 
other  property  has  been  wantonly  destroyed ;  workingmen 
and  workingwomen  suspected  of  radical  views  have  been 
shamefully  abused  and  maltreated.35 

Because  he  believed  the  methods  used  were  illegal 
Francis  Fisher  Kane  resigned  as  United  States  Dis 
trict  Attorney,  while  Judge  Thompson  of  Pitts 
burgh,  according  to  the  press,36  made  the  following 

35  Report   Upon  the  Illegal  Practices   of  the   United  States  De 
partment  of  Justice,  op.  cit.,  p.  3. 

36  A  prominent  lawyer  has  informed  the  author  that  the  state 
ment  was  substantially  correct. 


1 66  The  Russian  Immigrant 

comment  on  the  case  of  a  Russian  brought  to  trial 
before  him:  uThis  case  makes  my  blood  boil.  The 
methods  of  the  Department  of  Justice  have  created 
more  anarchy  than  all  the  radical  parties  put 
together,  and  conditions  in  this  district  are  worse 
than  they  were  in  Russia.  I  did  not  suppose  this 
kind  of  thing  could  happen  in  a  country  where  we 
had  a  constitution."  In  his  study  Panunzio  cor 
roborated  the  conclusions  found  in  the  report  signed 
by  Dean  Pound.  He  states  that  not  even  an  admin 
istrative  hearing  was  given  in  some  cases  until  weeks 
after  the  Russians  were  imprisoned.  In  the  hear 
ings  the  immigrant  inspector  acted  as  prosecutor, 
judge,  and  jury  at  the  same  time.  "In  some 
instances  the  very  man  who  originally  had  caused 
the  arrest  of  the  alien  acted  as  interpreter  at  the 
hearing."  3r  In  1922  Senator  Walsh,  a  Democrat,  a 
member  of  the  Subcommittee  on  the  Judiciary  of  the 
United  States  Senate,  brought  in  a  report  substan 
tiating  these  charges  against  the  Department  of 
Justice  under  a  Democratic  administration.  Charles 
E.  Hughes,  now  Secretary  of  State,  has  declared 
that  the  methods  used,  "savor  of  the  worst  prac 
tices  of  tyranny."  38 

The  methods  used  in  arresting  and  deporting  can 
be  better  understood  by  a  few  concrete  examples. 


87  Panunzio,  op.  clt.,  p.  94. 

38  Report  of  Subcommittee  of  the  Judiciary,  Charges  of  Illegal 
Practices  of  the  Department  of  Justice,  67th  Congress,  2nd  Ses 
sion,  Senate  Committee  Print  (Washington,  1922),  p.  37. 


Relation  to  Our  Government  167 

Theodore  Concevich,  head  of  the  Church  of  All 
Nations  in  New  York  City,  says: 

Joseph  Polulech  is  a  young  Russian,  twenty-five  years  old. 
He  was  in  America  eight  years.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
church  and  I  was  his  pastor.  He  is  a  bright  young  man, 
eager  to  learn.  He  was  attending  a  night  school  run  by 
the  Communist  Party.  He  was  studying  English  and 
algebra.  He  was  not  a  Communist,  but  he  was  made  an 
officer  in  the  school  because  of  his  faithfulness  and  intelli 
gence.  On  the  night  that  the  school  was  raided  by  the 
Lusk  Committee,  everybody  present  was  arrested,  Joseph 
Polulech  among  them.  I  and  others  protested  to  the  Lusk 
Committee  and  gave  our  guarantee  that  young  Polulech  was 
not  a  Communist.  We  received  no  reply  to  our  protest. 
Joseph  Polulech  is  now  among  two  hundred  and  forty-nine 
aliens  who  are  locked  up  in  cars  being  pushed  over  the 
Finnish  frontier. 

Mr.  Concevich  added:  "Russians  are  now  afraid 
to  attend  public  meetings  and  classes  for  fear  of 
having  the  police  raid  their  meeting  places  and  'beat 
them  up.'  "  39 

Dean  Pound  and  the  other  lawyers,  in  the  report 
already  cited,  secured  and  published  a  number  of 
affidavits,  which  they  evidently  considered  authentic, 
testifying  to  the  brutal  methods  of  the  government 
agents.  To  cite  one  instance :  Mitchel  Layrowsky, 
a  teacher  of  mathematics,  swore  to  the  following: 

I  am  fifty  years  old.    I  am  married  and  have  two  children. 
89  Personal  statement  to  the  author. 


1 68  The  Russian  Immigrant 

I  was  principal  of  the  Iglitsky  High  School  for  fifteen  years 
in  Odessa,  Russia.  I  declared  my  intention  to  become  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States.  On  Nov.  7,  1919,  I  conducted 
a  class  at  137  East  I5th  St.,  New  York.  At  about  eight 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  while  I  was  teaching  algebra  and  Rus 
sian,  an  agent  of  the  Department  of  Justice  opened  the  door 
of  the  school  and  walked  in  with  a  revolver  in  his  hands  and 
ordered  everybody  in  the  school  to  step  aside.  Then  he 
ordered  me  to  step  toward  him.  I  wore  eyeglasses  and  the 
agent  of  the  Department  of  Justice  ordered  me  to  take  them 
off.  Then  he  struck  me  on  the  head  and  simultaneously 
two  others  struck  me  and  beat  me  brutally.  After  I  was 
without  strength  to  stand  up,  I  was  thrown  downstairs; 
and  while  I  rolled  down,  other  men  beat  me  with  pieces  of 
wood,  which  I  later  found  were  obtained  by  breaking  the 
banisters.  I  sustained  a  fracture  of  the  head,  left  shoulder, 
and  right  side.  Then  I  was  ordered  to  wash  myself  and 
was  taken  to  13  Park  Row,  where  I  was  examined  and 
released  about  midnight.  40 

That  this  was  not  an  isolated  instance  can  be  seen 
by  referring  to  other  exhibits  from  the  authorities 
already  quoted.  For  example,  in  Mr.  Panunzio's 
study  Necita  Zafronia  testified,  "I  have  lived  long 
enough  in  Russia,  under  the  Czar.  I  have  seen 
brutality  committed  there,  but  I  have  never  seen 
the  brutality  that  was  committed  on  the  Russian 
people  here."  41  On  the  other  hand,  large  numbers 
were  arrested  without  such  extreme  treatment 

40  Report  on  the  Illegal  Practices   of  the   U.  S.  Department  of 
Justice,  op.  cit.,  p.  18. 

41  The  Deportation  Cases  of  1919-1920,  op.  cit.,  p.  77. 


Relation  to  Our  Government  169 

though  naturally  experiencing  great  inconvenience, 
loss  of  wages,  and  even  the  loss  of  positions. 

The  way  Russians  themselves  expressed  their 
feelings  to  the  author  is  shown  in  the  following 
statements  given  by  Russians  imprisoned  on  Ellis 
Island.  How  true  all  the  statements  are  is  open 
to  question,  but  the  subsequent  release  of  many  indi 
cates  at  least  that  the  Government  did  not  always 
substantiate  its  charges.  Steve  was  twenty- 
five  years  old  and  had  been  in  America  seven  years. 
For  the  last  five  he  had  been  working  in  the  Newark 
Tube  Metal  Works.  He  was  arrested  along  with 
everyone  else  in  a  restaurant.  He  claimed  he  was 
not  a  Communist,  although  he  had  been  a  socialist, 
and  thought  his  detention  was  due  to  his  having 
contributed  money  to  aid  imprisoned  Russians.  He 
said: 

In  Russia  I  was  frequently  maltreated  and  had  a  difficult 
life  as  a  peasant,  but  I  never  did  anything  against  the  govern 
ment.  In  the  United  States  I  am  not  opposed  to  your  form 
of  government  and  have  never  favored  the  use  of  force.  I 
believe  all  the  Russians  here  are  treated  unjustly,  their 
jobs  are  taken  away,  they  are  arrested ;  at  the  same  time  they 
are  denied  passports  to  return  to  Russia.  The  Czar's  regime, 
bad  as  it  was,  never  treated  its  subjects  as  the  Russians  are 
being  treated  at  the  present  time  in  America. 

Joe  was   a   member   in   good   standing  of 

the    International    Union    of    Mine    and    Smelter 
Workers  of  America,  for  the  author  saw  his  union 


170  The  Russian  Immigrant 

card.  He  had  been  arrested  in  his  home  at  mid 
night.  He  claimed  that  he  was  not  even  a  socialist, 
but  was  enrolled  in  an  arithmetic  class,  meeting  in 
a  Russian  Club.  During  the  month  that  he  had 
been  held  at  Ellis  Island  he  did  not  know  what  had 
become  of  his  wife  and  five  children,  as  they  had 
no  money.  He  felt  that  in  this  matter  the  American 
Government  had  treated  him  and  his  family  most 
unjustly. 

Another  Russian  had  been  employed  as  a  fireman 
in  the  American  Brass  Company.  He  was  detained 
for  over  two  months  only  to  be  released  because  it 
was  found  that  instead  of  belonging  to  a  Communist 
society,  he  was  a  member  of  an  educational  group. 
Out  of  200  cases  selected  at  random,  Mr.  Panunzio 
found  that  47  were  not  members  of  a  proscribed 
society  and  that  only  56  clearly  did  so  belong.  In 
justice  to  the  Government,  the  tangible  results  of 
these  raids  in  freeing  America  from  undesirable 
aliens  should  be  noted.  At  least  810  were  ordered 
deported  by  the  Secretary  of  Labor,  and  between 
July  i,  1919,  and  June  30,  1920,  314  actually  were 
sent  to  Europe.42  The  author  heard  radical  Rus 
sians  admit  that  from  the  standpoint  of  a  "capital 
istic"  government  some  of  the  arrests  were  justified. 
It  is  probably  true  that  this  action  also  made  the 
rank  and  file  of  Russians  think  twice  before  becom 
ing  members  of  an  organization.  They  were  less 

42  Department  of  Labor,  Annual  Reports  for  IQ2O,  op.  cit.,  pp. 
3I2-3I5- 


Relation  to  Our  Government  171 

likely  to  join  without  knowing  what  its  constitution 
and  principles  were. 

Nevertheless,  the  methods  employed  and  the  pub 
licity  given  have  caused  widespread  injustice  and 
harsh  feeling  where  it  was  unnecessary.  In 
Duquesne,  Pennsylvania,  a  representative  of  a  gov 
ernment  bureau  lecturing  on  "Abraham  Lincoln  and 
American  Democracy"  to  Russians  was  arrested  and 
imprisoned  as  a  Bolshevik  because  he  lectured  in 
Russian.  It  took  the  Government  thirty-six  hours 
to  free  its  own  agent.  He  says :  "After  they  found 
out  who  I  was  and  set  me  free,  I  asked  the  mayor 
of  the  city  whether  he  would  allow  me  to  deliver 
my  lecture  now.  He  said  that  he  would  not.  I  am 
convinced  that  no  propaganda  could  be  more  effec 
tive  in  spreading  animosity  towards  the  American 
Government."  43  In  Boston,  a  Greek  Orthodox 
priest  told  the  author  that  things  reached  such  a 
pass  in  his  neighborhood  that  a  crowd  of  Americans 
gathered  and  threw  stones  and  tin  cans  at  any  one 
who  entered  the  church.  Once  he  even  had  to  get 
a  policeman  to  conduct  him  from  his  home  to  the 
religious  service. 

It  can  hardly  be  denied  that  the  results  of  the 
raids  have  been  to  increase  the  misunderstanding 
between  the  Russian  and  our  Government.  On  this 
point,  Mr.  Panunzio  concludes:  "As  a  consequence 
of  all  this  (the  raids,  arrests  and  imprisonments), 
a  volume  of  prejudice  and  suspicion  has  been  pro- 

4*  Taken  from  a  letter  from  the  government  representative. 


172  The  Russian  Immigrant 

duced  among  immigrant  groups  which  it  will  require 
perhaps  years  to  allay."  44  On  the  whole,  the  rela 
tionship  between  federal  agents  and  the  Russian  is 
one  more  of  the  circumstantial  factors  which  neither 
makes  him  see  the  best  in  America  nor  stimulates 
him  to  love  our  institutions. 

The  Effect  of  the  Russian  Revolution 

The  Russian  revolution  has  also  had  a  decided 
effect  on  the  Russian's  attitude  toward  our  Govern 
ment.  Before  that  event,  in  spite  of  some  unsatis 
factory  conditions  here,  most  Russians  felt  that,  on 
the  whole,  their  circumstances  would  be  much  worse 
in  Tsarist  Russia.  After  the  revolution  the  aspect  of 
affairs  changed;  the  Russian  did  not  know,  but  he 
believed  that  there  was  a  vast  improvement  in  Rus 
sia.  He  was  a  warm  believer  in  the  revolution  and 
no  matter  who  was  controlling  the  government,  at 
least  it  proclaimed  itself  a  regime  of  the  workers. 
The  event  gave  the  Russian  here  opportunity  to  give 
vent  to  his  self-assertive  or  egoistic  tendencies  which, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  were  largely  repressed  in 
his  home  and  occupational  life.  If  in  America  he 
was  considered  an  inferior,  at  least  his  own  country 
and  his  own  people  had  been  the  first  to  lead  the 
world  in  a  workers'  commonwealth.  UI  would  be 
a  free  man  and  a  member  of  the  only  real  workers' 
government  in  the  world,  if  I  could  only  reach 

44  The  Deportation  Cases  of  1919-1920,  op.  cit.,  p.  96. 


Relation  to  Our  Government  173 

Russia,"  one  said  to  the  author.  Russian  priests, 
the  Russian  consul,  editors  of  the  Russian  papers, 
all  testified  that  the  majority  of  the  Russians  here 
were  sympathetic  to  the  Bolsheviks  and  in  favor  of 
the  Soviets.  If  in  1922  some  were  growing  a  little 
less  cordial  toward  the  Bolsheviks,  they  remained 
just  as  warm  supporters  of  the  Soviets  as  ever.45 

But  the  United  States  opposed  the  Bolsheviks. 
American  soldiers  were  sent  to  Siberia  and  Arch 
angel.  The  Government  until  1920  refused  to  per 
mit  Russians  to  return  to  their  homeland.  At  the 
same  time,  speeches  made  by  Senators  Johnson, 
France,  and  others  assailing  our  Russian  policy  were 
widely  circulated  by  the  Russian  papers.  All  these 
facts  powerfully  stimulated  the  feeling  against  the 
American  Government.  It  was  the  opinion  of  a 
priest  in  Boston  who  was  interviewed  that  fifty  per 
cent  of  the  men  who  were  not  Bolsheviks  at  first, 
sympathized  with  them  later  because  of  the  action 
of  the  United  States  Government.  The  one  in 
Buffalo  who  was  himself  an  American  citizen  said 
that  almost  none  of  the  Russians  knew  the  good 
side  of  America.  "They  ask,  why  does  the  Govern 
ment  tax  us,  why  arrest  us,  why  not  permit  us  to  go 
home?"  According  to  a  report  sent  by  a  Russian- 
speaking  American  investigator  in  California  in 
1920,  "With  few  exceptions,  the  Russians  want  to  go 
home.  Recently  all  the  Molokans,  of  Tacoma,  San 

45  Statement  of  Omeltchenko,  Vilchur,  Polonsky  and  many  other 
Russians. 


174  The  Russian  Immigrant 

Francisco,  Los  Angeles  and  along  the  coast,  number 
ing  several  thousand,  requested  the  Government  to 
deport  them.  They  claimed  that  they  had  been 
'cheated'  by  the  Americans  in  their  talk  about  the 
'freedom  of  America.'  '  The  head  of  the  Russian 
Consultation  Bureau  in  Detroit  and  formerly  in  the 
Russian  Consulate  in  Chicago  expressed  the  reason 
thus :  "The  Russians  do  not  understand  the  United 
States  and  the  United  States  does  not  understand 
them.  Before  the  war,  many  took  out  citizenship 
papers  but  not  now  after  the  Bolshevik  revolution." 
The  revolution  profoundly  affected  the  Russian's 
attitude  toward  our  Government  and  it  no  less  pro 
foundly  affected  the  attitude  of  our  Government  and 
people  toward  the  Russian.  The  result  was  that 
each  was  becoming  increasingly  suspicious  towards 
the  other.  Some  Russians  became  dangerous  radi 
cals  favoring  a  world  revolution.  The  Government 
made  wholesale  arrests,  and  mutual  distrust  was  the 
inevitable  result.  It  is  but  another  illustration  of 
what  sociologists  have  long  recognized  to  be  true, 
that  unlike  individuals  reacting  toward  each  other 
in  unlike  ways  make  for  conflict. 

Conclusion 

The  foregoing  evidence  makes  it  clear  that  in  an 
unfortunately  large  number  of  cases,  legislation, 
to  the  Russian  mind,  has  been  discriminatory,  con- 
fiscatory,  or  otherwise  unjust.  The  agencies  of  law 
and  order  also  appear  to  him  to  have  been  organized 


Relation  to  Our  Government  175 

to  serve  Americans,  not  Russians.  As  a  foreign- 
born  worker  he  has  been  looked  down  on  in  Amer 
ica;  in  Russia  his  country  has  achieved  a  new  form 
of  government — of  the  workers,  for  the  workers, 
and  by  the  workers — so  he  thinks.  The  revolution 
in  his  homeland  has  strengthened  his  self-esteem  and 
given  outlet  to  his  desire  for  recognition.  This 
stimulates  his  discontent  with  America  where  he 
realizes  that  he  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  social  scale. 
The  raids  and  wide-spread  arrests  in  1919  and  1920 
accentuated  this  feeling  and  created  a  sense  of  injus 
tice  in  the  mind  of  the  Russian.  All  these  facts 
have  undoubtedly  made  for  misunderstanding  and 
mutual  distrust  between  the  Russian  and  our  Govern 
ment.  From  our  American  standpoint  we  can  dis 
miss  these  various  factors  with  easy  explanations; 
or  we  can  with  deeper  insight  understand  that  they 
are  due  to  war  psychology,  mutual  unlikeness,  and 
absorption  in  our  own  affairs.  But  to  the  incoming 
alien,  America  has  beckoned  as  the  Utopia  of  his 
own  individual  dreams.  What  wonder  if  the  dis 
illusionment  has  been  bitter ! 


CHAPTER  VII 

CONCLUSION 
America's  Contribution  to  the  Russian 

A  CAREFUL  consideration  of  the  data  already 
presented  should  have  given  a  reasonably  clear  pic 
ture  of  the  relationship  of  the  average  Russian 
worker  to  the  rest  of  our  American  society.  Be 
cause  the  facts  have  shown  so  much  unlikeness  and 
misunderstanding  between  ourselves  and  the  Rus 
sian  aliens  it  is  well  to  review  briefly  the  real 
contribution  which  America  offers. 

In  the  first  place  until  very  recently  she  has  gen 
erously  thrown  wide  her  doors  to  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  Russians  except  the  mere  handful  of 
those  defective  in  mind  or  body.  The  illiterate 
masses  have  not  in  the  past  been  discriminated 
against,  and  political  and  religious  refugees  have 
found  no  obstacles  to  entrance,  nor  have  they  been 
deported  even  in  the  face  of  demands  from  the 
Tsar's  Government. 

All  these  Russians  have  in  the  end  secured  some 
employment  which  in  prosperous  times  has  permitted 
many  of  them  to  save.  They  have  had  an  opportu 
nity  to  share  in  the  boundless  material  resources  of 
America  in  some  measure,  even  though  it  be  only  a 

176 


Conclusion  177 

stake  in  the  daily  pay  roll.  Large  sums  have,  in  the 
aggregate,  been  sent  by  them  to  the  homeland  and 
considerable  numbers  have  returned  to  Russia  with 
accumulations  of  money  which  seemed  fabulous  to 
the  simple  peasants  of  their  home  districts.  Others 
have  risen  to  positions  of  comfort  and  prosperity  on 
the  farms  or  in  the  cities  of  the  land  of  their  adop 
tion.  To  some  of  them  has  come  a  new  sense  of 
freedom  of  opportunity  for  individual  initiative; 
some  among  them  have  here  the  chance  to  read  in  the 
Russian  newspapers  material  which  might  have  been 
censored  or  declared  illegal  under  the  Tsar.  A  large 
number  of  libraries,  welfare,  and  educational  institu 
tions,  moreover,  are  open  to  them,  and  to  perhaps  an 
increasingly  large  number  bring  a  new  aspect  of 
America,  a  faint  conception  of  our  traditions  and 
our  ideals.  One  Russian  who  had  been  illiterate  at 
the  time  of  his  entry,  after  eight  months'  study  in  a 
civic  center,  wrote  the  following:  "While  in  Russia 
...  I  could  not  understand  how  people  can  govern 
themselves.  Now  that  I  have  spent  nearly  eight 
months  in  this  country,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
a  democratic  government  is  more  advantageous  than 
a  monarchial."  x  Another  clearly  recognized  that 
this  country  has  liberty  of  conscience,  free  press,  and 
free  speech,  "Therefore,  the  Russian  people  are 
coming  here  because  they  haven't  this  in  their 
country." 

Furthermore,    married    Russians    with    children 

1  Davis,  Immigration  and  Americanization  (Boston,  1920),  p.  662. 


178  The  Russian  Immigrant 

come  to  realize  something  of  what  free  education 
means — that  it  is  a  gift  of  immeasurable  value.  The 
second  generation  read  and  write  English,  they  know 
something  of  our  history  and  ideals;  they  are 
definitely  becoming  assimilated.  As  far  as  their 
social  heritage  is  concerned,  it  is  almost  more 
American  than  Russian.  Besides  these  there  are 
some  few  foreign-born  Russians — and  it  is  to  be 
hoped  their  number  is  increasing — who  have  them 
selves  found  out  the  real  values  America  has  to 
bestow,  have  acquired  citizenship,  and  have  to  some 
degree  become  a  part  of  the  body  politic.  To  these 
America  offers  the  opportunity  to  enter  into  a 
common  social  heritage,  an  amalgam  of  the  best  of 
all. 

Isolation  and  Unlikeness  of  Foreign-born  Russians 

In  spite  of  all  that  America  gives,  we  have  seen 
that  the  great  majority  of  Russian  immigrants  are 
isolated  and  remain  almost  totally  unlike  the  Ameri 
can  people.  When  they  first  arrive,  they  come  with  a 
cultural  heritage  so  totally  at  variance  with  that  of 
the  American  that  they  form  a  distinct  non-resem 
bling  group  in  our  society.  In  language,  occupation, 
education,  and  mores,  they  are  unlike  our  average. 
As  might  be  expected  of  two  unlike  groups  reacting 
on  each  other,  segregation  and  mutual  non-compre 
hension  result.  In  the  economic  world  the  Russian 
has  the  worst  task,  out  of  touch  with  his  employer,  in 
contact  with  a  foreman  or  boss  who  is  often  himself 


Conclusion  179 

foreign-born.  In  his  home  life  we  find  him  occupying 
unsanitary,  overcrowded  tenements  or  frame  build 
ings  in  the  foreign  districts  of  our  cities  detached 
from  American  life.  Even  his  marketing  is  con 
ducted  directly  with  the  foreign  shopkeeper  of  his 
own  district. 

In  the  matter  of  health  the  foreigner  is  worse  off 
than  he  was  before  coming  to  this  country  and  in 
his  recreational  activities,  besides  being  deprived  of 
the  simple  folk  pastimes  to  which  he  was  accustomed, 
he  has  practically  no  choice  other  than  the  lowest 
amusement  resorts  represented  by  the  saloon,  the 
pool  room,  the  dance  hall,  and  the  moving  picture 
theater.  To  a  considerable  extent  the  various 
religious  and  educational  forces  either  do  not  reach 
him  at  all  or,  as  may  be  the  case  with  his  radical 
clubs  and  the  Russian  church,  still  further  set  him 
apart.  We  have  seen  that  the  various  representa 
tives  and  agencies  of  our  Government  have  failed  to 
break  down  to  any  extent  these  barriers  of 
unlikeness,  and,  as  one  result  of  the  wave  of 
intolerance  which  swept  over  the  social  mind  during 
and  immediately  following  the  war,  considerable 
injustice  was  done  the  Slav:  his  mind  was  still 
further  antagonized  and  made  unlike  that  of 
America.  All  of  these  forces  make  up  the  sum  of 
the  social  influences  which  the  Russian  takes  in  and 
incorporates  as  his  conception  of  America.  Each 
group  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact,  each  environ 
mental  factor  registers  on  his  personality  an 


180  The  Russian  Immigrant 

impression.  In  so  far  as  he  is  in  a  receptive, 
imitative  attitude  some  of  the  influences  such  as 
a  fund  of  job  phrases  and  "swear  words,"  or  cheap 
liquor  and  questionable  amusements,  become  a  part 
of  his  own  personality.  On  the  other  hand,  his 
self  has  already  been  cast  in  the  mold  of  all  the 
hereditary  and  environmental  forces  by  which  he 
was  influenced  in  Russia.  In  personal  relations 
largely  isolated  from  the  best  of  America,  he  can 
see  in  large  measure  only  that  which  is  hostile  to, 
that  which  conflicts  with  the  best  of  the  old  social 
heritage.  There  is  little  which  actually  bridges  the 
Atlantic  of  social  differences  separating  the  Ameri 
can  and  the  Russian.  Consequently,  between  the 
two  there  is  an  almost  total  lack  of  consciousness  of 
kind. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  study  we  declared,  "If 
the  social  point  of  view  which  the  foreigner  brings 
with  him,  and  the  social  forces  which  are  to  act  upon 
him  are  known,  the  attitude  which  the  majority  of 
his  nationality  will  take  toward  the  foreign  country 
to  which  it  comes  can  be  predicted."  In  view  of  the 
evidence  we  have  presented,  we  can  safely  conclude 
that  the  great  majority  of  the  Russians  do  not 
understand  or  love  America.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
they  look  at  her  through  the  colored  glasses  of  their 
experience.  It  is  a  sociological  truism  that  we  are 
imposing  on  the  average  Russian  a  life  of  such 
limited  happiness,  such  restrictions  on  the  economic 
and  social  side  of  life,  such  a  thwarting  of  normal 


Conclusion  181 

instinctive  response,  that  it  is  impossible  for  sympa 
thy,  cooperation  and  friendship  to  result.  Our 
treatment  of  Russians  is  sociologically  unsanitary. 
The  following  answers  represent  the  spirit  of 
America  to  a  large  number  of  Russian  workmen  and 
priests.  They  are  surprisingly  alike : 

"No  heart  in  American  life." 

uBusy  and  business." 

uEach  help  self." 

"Rich  man's  land." 

"Money." 

"Love  of  self." 

"There  is  no  sympathy  here." 

One  priest  in  order  to  illustrate  his  conception  of 
America  went  to  the  door  and  pointing  to  the  moun 
tain  of  coal  dust  and  cinders  at  the  mouth  of  the 
mine  nearby  said,  "That  is  the  heart  of  America." 

Some  expressed  the  conviction  that  America  for 
them  at  least  was  bad. 

"If  money  in  pocket  Americans  like  you,  if  not 
don't  care  and  swear  at  you." 

"America  place  like  heaven  for  rich,  but  like  hell 
for  foreign  worker." 

"As  a  wild  animal  or  bird  in  a  cage,  so  lives  the 
Russian  here." 

"America  is  not  free  for  the  workers.  They  are 
beasts  like  horses." 

"I  think  American  if  he  has  condition  as  has 
foreign  man,  became  long  ago  as  Bolshevik." 

"To-day  we  Russians  are  friendless.     Hatred  is 


1 82  The  Russian  Immigrant 

preached  against  us  everywhere.  The  word  Russian 
is  enough  to  make  an  enemy,  and  put  one  in  danger." 

"At  home  we  have  a  Tsar,  here  we  have  a 
superintendent." 

These  quotations  represent  in  a  vague  and  inco 
herent  way  the  attitude  of  thousands  of  Russians 
toward  our  country.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
American  group  for  its  part  does  not  comprehend 
the  Russian.  The  head  of  the  Russian  consultation 
bureau  in  Detroit  expressed  the  present  relationship 
between  the  two  groups  when  he  said,  "The  Russians 
do  not  understand  the  United  States,  and  the  United 
States  does  not  understand  the  Russians." 

The  workers  sense  this  misunderstanding,  as  is 
evidenced  by  the  following:  "Even  in  opinion  of 
middle  class  in  America,  the  Russian  workmen  are 
the  animal."  "Experience  has  taught  us  that  Ameri 
cans  should  be  regarded  as  exploiters,  they  look  on 
us  as  'Polacks.'  '  The  Russian  newspapers  clearly 
reveal  the  same  attitude,  as  in  the  following: 

Russki  Golos,  April  20,   1920 

(A  Translation) 
DO  YOU  LIKE  AMERICA? 

"If  you  don't — get  out,"  says  the  landlord  to  his  tenant. 
Masters  of  American  land — they  are  the  landlords,  too. 
What  they  are  used  to  saying  to  their  tenants,  they  say  to 
the  immigrant  masses.  By  their  order,  articles  are  written 
in  newspapers  which  are  read  all  over  the  country.  They 


Conclusion  183 

dictate  the  words  that  are  shown  in  brilliant  letters  on  the 
screen  in  moving  pictures.  Every  day  these  words  stand 
before  the  people's  eyes,  are  whispered  in  their  ears.  They 
poison  the  soul  of  the  American  people  with  spite  and  stupid 
arrogance.  These  offensive  words  are  daily  thrown  into 
the  newcomer-immigrant's  face.  "If  you  don't  like  it — 
get  out,"  says  the  landlord  to  his  tenant.  "If  you  don't 
like  this  country — get  out,"  shout  the  capitalistic  newspapers 
and  moving  pictures  to  the  immigrant  laborer. 

"Get  out  of  here,"  is  told  to  the  immigrant.  These  words 
are  not  only  stupid,  they  are  false.  If  millions  of  workmen 
who  came  here  from  Europe  should  leave  the  U.  S.,  Amer 
ica's  strength  and  wealth  would  vanish.  In  the  big  theaters 
among  dancing  and  other  entertainments  you  see  these  same 
words  on  the  screen: — "If  you  don't  like  this  country — 
get  out."  Many  would  like  to  get  out  and  will  do  it  as  soon 
as  possible.  But  is  it  true  that  we  do  not  like  this  country? 
We  like  this  country  as  any  country.  Here  also  the  sun 
shines,  the  woods  murmur  and  the  rivers  flow.  This  coun 
try  is  a  good  field  for  human  labor.  As  everywhere  else, 
here  are  people  humiliated  by  the  strong  ones.  As  every 
where  else  the  money  bag  is  ruling. 

It  is  not  that  we  do  not  like  America.  We  do  not  like 
the  great  amount  of  violence  and  falsehood  that  is  in  Amer 
ica.  We  do  not  like  it  that  in  America  are  stupid  people. 
They  are  among  those  who  throw  in  the  face  of  the  Russian 
and  European  workman,  who  have  helped  to  create  the 
wealth  of  America  the  offensive  words,  "Get  out  of  here." 

Russkoye  Slovo,  Dec.  24,  1920 

(A  Translation) 

America  is  not  at  all  interested  in  the  soul  and  spiritual 
life  of  the  Russian  immigrant,  only  in  his  muscles.  He 


184  The  Russian  Immigrant 

came  to  this  country  a  stranger  and  often  leaves  it  again 
without  any  American  knowing  him  at  all.  It  is  therefore 
very  unjust  to  accuse  him  of  disloyalty,  ingratitude  and 
revolt. 

Need  of  Increasing  the  Likeness  Between  the 
Russian  and  American  Mind 

In  view  of  all  this,  the  need  of  creating  a  greater 
likeness  between  the  Russian  and  the  American  mind 
seems  entirely  obvious.  If  we  are  ever  to  get  a 
group  consciousness,  a  patriotic  devotion  to  Ameri 
can  ideals  by  all,  it  must  be  accomplished  by  breaking 
down  the  barriers  now  existing.  We  unhesitatingly 
spent  large  sums  in  arresting  thousands  of  Russians 
suspected  of  radicalism  and  Bolshevism  in  1919  and 
1920.  This  was  merely  a  striking  proof  that 
America  had  herself  failed  to  provide  the  necessary 
social  mechanism  to  create  mutual  understanding. 
In  this  connection  it  is  important  to  note  that  those 
Russians  who  were  arrested  as  dangerous  anarchists 
by  our  Government  at  that  time  were  those  who  had 
had  almost  no  contacts  with  Americans  at  all.  With 
the  permission  of  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  Labor, 
the  writer  interviewed  arrested  Russians  in  Detroit, 
Pittsburgh,  Hartford,  and  Ellis  Island.  Each  Rus 
sian  was  asked  whether,  during  his  stay  in  America, 
he  had  ever  met  any  American  who  had  helped  him. 
It  was  suggested  that  perhaps  there  had  been  some 
teacher,  some  boss,  some  boarding-house  keeper  or 
worker  who  had  been  friendly  to  him.  Out  of  nearly 


Conclusion  185 

150  arrested  Russians  there  were  only  five  who  had 
ever  received  any  such  aid.  Of  these  American 
friends,  two  had  been  workmen,  two  company 
doctors,  and  one  a  teacher.  On  the  other  hand, 
every  one  of  the  groups  had  met  many  who  had 
cursed  them,  foremen  who  called  them  "Russian 
swine,"  bosses  who  were  continually  swearing  at 
them.  America,  according  to  their  stories,  had 
been  for  the  most  part  one  constant  struggle  against 
adverse  industrial  conditions  and  exploitation.  The 
former  head  of  the  Russian  work  of  the  Y.M.C.A. 
in  America  after  speaking  in  the  various  Russian 
colonies  says:  uAt  practically  every  place  I  have 
visited,  I  have  been  hailed  as  one  of  the  first  Ameri 
cans  to  come  to  him  (the  Russian)  extending  a 
friendly  hand.  Sometimes  he  has  shed  tears,  while 
occasionally  he  has  cursed  America,  and  included 
me  along  with  her."  The  result  of  this  lack  of 
intercourse  is  that  thousands  of  Russians  who  have 
become  skilled  in  our  industrial  processes  return  to 
Europe  just  at  the  time  when,  having  learned  their 
trades,  they  are  at  the  point  of  maximum  efficiency. 
If  we  could  bring  about  a  greater  likemindedness 
between  the  Russian  and  the  American  it  would 
increase  cooperation  in  every  factory,  mine,  and 
community  where  the  Slav  is  employed.  It  also  goes 
without  saying  that  if  the  foreign-born  Russian  could 
be  made  to  understand  the  best  of  America,  it  would 
enormously  aid  in  fitting  the  second  generation  to 
meet  the  opportunities  and  duties  of  citizenship. 


1 86  The  Russian  Immigrant 

Theodore  Roosevelt  clearly  realized  this  when  he 
said  in  an  address  on  Americanism  in  I9I5,2  "We 
cannot  afford  to  continue  to  use  hundreds  of  thou 
sands  of  immigrants  merely  as  industrial  assets  while 
they  remain  social  outcasts  and  menaces." 

We  owe  these  foreigners  a  moral  obligation.  As 
Dr.  Giddings  says,3  "Society  is  morally  responsible 
for  the  costs  of  its  existence."  The  Slavic  workers 
are  essential  parts  of  our  economic  mechanism.  A 
prominent  manufacturer  in  Lawrence,  Massachu 
setts,  admitted  to  the  writer  that  the  textile  mills 
would  never  be  able  to  keep  running  were  it  not 
for  the  foreign  labor.  "Americans  would  refuse 
to  do  the  dirty  work,"  was  his  comment.  The  U.  S. 
Immigration  Commission  in  1909  4  found  that  four 
fifths  of  the  operatives  of  thirty-eight  great  indus 
tries  were  either  foreign-born  or  the  sons  of 
foreigners.  The  proportion  would  probably  be  still 
higher  in  1922,  for  it  has  been  since  1909  that  the 
heaviest  immigration  has  come,  displacing  still 
further  American  unskilled  labor.  But  it  is  precisely 
in  the  essential  industries  such  as  iron  and  steel,  coal 
mining,  railway  construction,  meat  packing,  and 
sugar  refining  that  we  find  the  Russian  worker. 
Ex-President  Wilson  has  said : 

The  welfare,  the  happiness,  the  energy  and  spirit  of  the 

2  Address  given  before  the  Knights  of  Columbus,  Carnegie  Hall, 
New  York,  October  13,  1915,  reprinted  in  Davis,  op.  cit.,  p.  645. 

3  Giddings,  Democracy  and  Empire,  op.  cit.,  p.  86. 

4  Abstracts   of  Reports   of  the  Immigration  Commission,  vol.    i, 
op.  cit.,  passim. 


Conclusion  187 

men  and  women  who  do  the  daily  work  in  our  mines  and 
factories,  on  our  railroads,  in  our  offices  and  ports  of  trade, 
on  our  farms,  and  on  the  sea,  is  the  underlying  necessity  of 
our  prosperity.  There  can  be  nothing  wholesome  unless 
their  life  is  wholesome;  there  can  be  no  contentment  unless 
they  are  contented.  Their  physical  welfare  affects  the 
soundness  of  the  whole  nation.5 

But  it  is  futile  to  pretend  we  have  made  our 
foreign  workers  happy  and  contented,  least  of  all 
the  Russians.  Rabbi  Wise  of  the  Free  Synagogue 
in  New  York  City  says:  "I  would  have  America 
either  shut  foreigners  out  or  take  them  in,  not  leave 
them  dangling  in  spirit  at  our  doors,  physically 
admitted  to,  but  spiritually  excluded  from,  the  life 
of  the  Republic."  6 

Moreover,  can  we  really  be  a  democracy  if  large 
elements  of  the  population  are  thus  detached?  The 
publication,  Americanization,  of  the  United  States 
Department  of  Education,  asks  the  following  search 
ing  questions : 

What  should  be  said  of  a  world-leading  democracy 
wherein  ten  per  cent  of  the  adult  population  cannot  read 
the  laws  which  they  are  presumed  to  know? 

What  should  be  said  of  a  democracy  which  sends  an  army 
to  preach  democracy  wherein  there  was  drafted  out  of  the 
first  2,000,000  men  a  total  of  200,000  men  who  could  not 
read  their  orders  or  understand  them  when  delivered  ? 

What  should  be  said  of  a  democracy  which  expends  in 
a  year  twice  as  much  for  chewing  gum  as  for  school  books, 

5  Wilson,  The  New  Freedom  (N.  Y.,  1918),  p.  290. 

6  From  an  unpublished  address  sent  in  manuscript  to  the  author. 


1 88  The  Russian  Immigrant 

more  for  automobiles  than  for  all  primary  and  secondary 
education,  and  in  which  the  average  teacher's  salary  is  less 
than  that  of  the  average  day  laborer? 

What  should  be  said  of  a  democracy  which  permits  men 
and  women  to  work  in  masses  where  they  seldom  or  never 
hear  a  word  of  English  spoken  ?  7 

Possible  Methods  of  Securing  Like-mindedness 

The  chief  purpose  and  findings  of  this  study  have 
now  been  presented,  the  actual  situation  and  rela 
tionship  of  the  Russians  in  our  social  structure  has 
been  at  least  partially  diagnosed.  Their  treatment 
and  experience  seem  to  shut  them  out  from  and 
keep  them  unlike  our  normal  American  group. 
It  is  not  intended  to  outline  the  concrete  methods 
which  must  be  followed  to  break  down  the  isola 
tion  which  is  the  key  to  the  present  situation. 
This  would  involve  a  further  careful  and  much 
more  exhaustive  study.  Certain  things,  however, 
can  be  urged.  In  the  first  place,  the  barriers 
to  communication  between  the  two  peoples  must 
be  overthrown.  Inter-stimulation,  communication 
and  response  must  in  some  way  be  established 
between  them.  One  of  the  chief  obstacles  to  this 
is  the  language  barrier.  To  know  where  the  aliens 
are  is  the  first  step.  The  State  Department  of 
Americanization  in  New  York  had  copied  from  the 
U.  S.  Census  record  the  names  and  addresses  of  all 
people  21  to  50  years  of  age  who  were  listed  as  not 

7  Americanization,  Jan.  i,  1919,  p.  3. 


Conclusion  189 

able  to  read  or  write  any  language  or  not  able  to 
speak  English : 

The  381,000  names  which  were  copied  from  the  census 
schedules  were  distributed  among  the  320  superintendents 
of  schools  of  New  York  State.  In  many  cities  and  villages, 
local  school  boards  appointed  teachers  to  visit  these  people 
at  their  homes  to  invite  them  to  attend  classes  for  the  study 
of  English  and  citizenship.  We  estimate  that  about  100,000 
homes  were  visited  during  the  past  school  year.  In  these 
visits  to  the  homes,  teachers  probably  carried  the  message 
of  the  public  school  to  about  300,000  foreign-born,  as  they 
met  five  or  six  persons  on  every  such  visit.8 

Such  a  procedure  must,  of  course,  be  followed  by 
some  definite  contact  with  those  whose  names  are 
secured,  as  seems  to  have  been  done  to  some  extent 
in  this  case.  To  eradicate  the  differences  of  lan 
guage,  two  things  are  essential.  Adequate  schools 
at  the  right  hours  and  in  the  right  localities  for  the 
foreigners  should  be  provided  by  the  community  or 
the  state.  Second,  the  proper  relationship  with  the 
immigrants  must  be  sustained  in  order  to  induce 
them  to  attend  such  classes.  This  might  be  accom 
plished  by  having  foreign-speaking  workers  attached 
to  the  schools,  who  would  maintain  friendly  contacts 
with  the  foreigners  and  let  them  know  what  the 
schools  offered  and  where  they  were. 

Provided  it  were  possible  to  enlist  the  cooperation 
of  the  employer,  this  would  be  the  quickest  and 

8  Letter  of  the  Supervisor  of  Immigrant  Education  for  the  State 
of  New  York  to  the  author. 


190  The  Russian  Immigrant 

easiest  way  to  help  the  Russian  learn  English.  As 
W.  M.  Roberts,  Assistant  Superintendent  of  Schools 
in  Chicago,  said  at  the  National  Americanization 
Conference  in  1919  :9  "If  the  employers  represent 
ing  the  dominant  industries  in  any  industrial  city 
remain  indifferent  as  to  whether  or  not  the  foreign- 
born  men  in  their  employ  know  the  English  language, 
it  requires  extraordinary  effort  on  the  part  of  other 
agencies  of  the  community  to  get  them  started  in 
learning  English.  The  experiences  growing  out  of 
the  war  have  shown  that  the  foreign-born  men  would 
like  to  be  called  Americans ;  that  they  would  prefer 
to  speak  English  in  the  shop  and  on  the  street,  and 
that  they  have  not  learned,  largely  because  it  was 
not  required  of  them  in  the  factory,  was  not  neces 
sary  at  home,  and  they  could  get  all  the  news  they 
wanted  out  of  the  foreign  language  newspapers." 

If  a  law  could  be  enacted  which  prohibited 
manufacturers  from  employing  any  alien  who  did 
not  read  and  write  English  unless  the  manufacturer 
established  in  his  plant  a  class  for  such  aliens  under 
the  direction  of  the  local  board  of  education,  it 
might  prove  effective.  The  law  should  also  provide 
that  the  foreigners  were  to  attend  the  class  during 
their  working  hours  on  company  time.  Such  a  law 
would  enormously  stimulate  the  desire  of  the 
foreigner  to  learn  English,  and  it  would  force  the 
employer,  utilizing  the  cheapest  foreign  labor,  to 
install  English  classes  in  English. 

8  Davis,  Immigration  and  Americanization,  op.  cit.,  p.  714. 


Conclusion  191 

The  D.  E.  Sicher  Company  of  New  York  has 
adopted  such  a  plan  and  when  asked  whether  classes 
to  teach  employees  were  worth  while,  one  of  its 
officers  said:  "On  the  basis  of  expense  also,  I  could 
prove  to  you  that  it  is  worth  while.  .  .  .  Four  years 
ago  the  company  organized  classes  in  the  plant  for 
instruction  in  English,  the  New  York  City  Board  of 
Education  providing  the  teacher.  Fifty-five  girls 
were  enrolled  in  three  groups,  each  one  receiving 
instruction  for  three-quarters  of  an  hour  each  morn 
ing,  wages  being  paid  during  that  time."  The 
results  showed  a  steady  increase  in  hourly  wages 
and  a  decrease  in  the  number  of  supervisors  needed.10 

The  Wisconsin  Bridge  and  Iron  Company  of 
Milwaukee  has  for  several  years  paid  one  hour's 
wages  to  every  non-English-speaking  employee 
studying  English  in  the  school  room.11  In  a  letter  of 
January  6,  1922,  to  the  author,  the  vice-president  of 
this  concern  says  that  they  have  been  very  much 
pleased  with  the  remarkable  progress  made  by  those 
who  are  studying  and  that  they  believe  the  policy 
has  resulted  in  a  better  feeling  between  the  foreign 
employees  and  the  company. 

Massachusetts  has  taken  the  lead  in  the  coopera 
tion  between  the  state  department  of  education  and 
the  manufacturers  and  the  local  communities. 
The  state  provides  half  the  funds  and  the  local 
communities  the  other  half  for  classes  in  industry 

10  Americanization,  June    i,    1919,   p.    10    (also    cf.   MacCarthy, 
Where  Garments  and  Americans  Are  Made  (N.  Y.,  1917),  pp.  1-55. 

11  Ibid.,  Feb.  i,  1919,  p.  10. 


192  The  Russian  Immigrant 

under  a  local  director  of  immigrant  education  and 
a  trained  group  of  teachers  equipped  with  text  books. 
The  industries  organize  a  committee  or  plant  direc 
tor,  recruit  classes,  provide  the  class-room  facilities 
and  provide  incentives.  In  December,  1921,  thirty- 
eight  cities  and  fifty-four  towns  in  Massachusetts 
took  advantage  of  the  state  law  and  organized  such 
classes.12 

Next  to  the  language  barrier  comes  that  of 
misunderstanding  and  ignorance,  which  is  closely 
linked  up  with  that  of  exploitation.  Here  also  there 
is  no  single  easy  method  by  which  to  demolish  the 
obstruction.  One  means  toward  this  end  would  be 
the  establishment  by  the  Federal  Government  of 
information  bureaus  for  aliens  in  the  more  important 
foreign  centers.  The  bureaus  should  be  managed  by 
naturalized  citizens  under  the  direction  of  an  Ameri 
can;  at  least  one  foreign-speaking  worker  for  each 
major  nationality  in  the  city.  They  would  be 
prepared  among  other  things  to  tell  the  inquirer 
where  to  find  good  lawyers,  doctors,  banks,  night 
schools,  and  welfare  agencies,  besides  tracing  out 
and  exposing  exploitation  and  fraud.  Such  a  bureau 
could  also  assist  in  giving  American  news  items  to 
the  foreign-language  press.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  Foreign  Language  Governmental  Information 
Service  Bureau  did  exactly  this  in  a  small  way  during 
the  war  and  at  the  present  time  the  work  is  being 

12  Letter  from  the  Assistant  State  Supervisor  of  Americanization 
to  the  writer. 


Conclusion  193 

continued  by  the  American  Red  Cross.  The  diffi 
culty  is  that  they  are  now  able  to  maintain  only  one 
office  in  New  York,  whereas  one  should  be  found 
in  every  large  center  of  the  foreign-born.  In  spite 
of  this  fact  the  bureau  gives  out  news  to  795  foreign- 
language  publications,  covering  eighteen  foreign 
language  groups,  who  print  an  average  of  three- 
quarters  of  a  million  words  per  month  of  this 
material.13  It  has  sent  out  95,000  pamphlets  in 
Russian,  Ukranian,  Hungarian  and  Polish  and 
adjusts  more  than  2000  personal  cases  a  month.  "It 
furnishes  30,000  words  of  foreign-language  editorial 
matter  to  100  American  papers  monthly  and  sends 
5000  words  of  general  news  concerning  the  alien  to 
400  papers."  14 

The  creation  of  such  an  information  bureau  has 
for  a  long  time  been  strongly  urged  on  the  Govern 
ment  by  competent  authorities.  At  the  time  when 
the  United  States  Immigration  Commission  was 
making  a  study  of  the  entire  immigration  problem 
a  letter  was  sent  out  to  the  various  welfare 
organizations  working  among  immigrants  asking, 
"What,  in  your  opinion,  can  the  National  Govern 
ment  do  to  promote  assimilation  or  Americanization 
of  immigrants?"  Nearly  all  of  those  who  replied 
recommended  some  form  of  informational  help  to 
the  immigrant,  and  eight  specifically  mentioned  some 

13  Bierstadt,  E.  H.,  "The  Work  of  the  Foreign  Language  Infor 
mation  Service,"  The  Legal  Aid  Review,  vol.  19,  no.  4  (Oct.,  1921), 

i*lbid.,  p.  6. 


194  The  Russian  Immigrant 

form  of  an  information  bureau.15  More  recently 
the  Secretary  of  the  California  Immigration  Com 
mission  has  urged  the  establishment  of  a  Federal 
agency  to  cooperate  with  the  states.  "Each  state 
must  establish  a  central  commission  with  the  respon 
sibility  for  developing  and  executing  a  state 
program  of  Americanization,  properly  coordinated 
with  the  national  program.  Second,  the  National 
Government  must  establish  a  central  agency  charged 
with  the  full  power  of  a  broad  national  Americani 
zation  program  carried  on  in  cooperation  with  the 
state." 16  In  the  report  of  the  United  States 
Commissioner  of  Education  for  1919  it  is  recom 
mended  that  an  "immediate  national  organization  of 
all  forces,"  public  and  private,  under  the  leadership 
of  the  Federal  Government,  should  be  created. 
"The  problem  is  too  delicate  to  be  left  to  the 
uncertain  activities  of  undirected  amateurs." 17 
Enough  concrete  plans  have  been  proposed.  The 
need  is  for  action.  There  is  a  real  danger  that 
since  the  war  is  over,  all  such  plans  will  be  aban 
doned.  As  ex-President  Roosevelt  said  in  one  of 
his  last  public  statements,  "There  must  be  no  sagging 
back  in  the  fight  for  Americanism  merely  because 
the  war  is  over."  18 

If  the  Government  should  establish  some  form  of 


15  Reports  of  the  Immigration  Commission,  vol.  41,  op.  cit.,  passim. 

16  Americanization  (Conference  Supplement),  June  i,  1919,  p.  u. 

17  U.   S.  Bureau  of  Education,  Report  of  the   Commissioner  of 
Education  (1919),  p.  46. 

18  Americanization,  Feb.  i,  1909,  p.  7. 


Conclusion  195 

information  bureau  on  an  adequate  scale,  it  would 
to  a  large  extent  break  down  misunderstanding, 
exploitation,  and  unlikeness.  Such  agencies  would 
also  serve  to  help  in  educating  Americans  about 
Russians.  Nearly  all  the  foreign  groups  would  be 
glad  to  see  such  a  service  carried  on  and  the  Russians 
would  certainly  be  no  exception.  The  Russkoye- 
Slovo  for  Nov.  17,  1919,  made  the  following 
comment  in  this  connection : 

A  number  of  organizations  are  helping  the  immigrant 
understand  the  political,  social  and  industrial  life  in  this 
country.  Nothing,  however,  seems  to  be  done  to  teach 
Americans  to  know  the  immigrant,  his  aims  and  desires. 
The  average  American  knows  little  about  the  foreign-born. 
He  considers  every  Italian  a  member  of  the  "Black  Hand" 
Society.  He  thinks  that  every  Russian  is  a  Bolshevik,  every 
German  an  admirer  of  the  Kaiser.  Until  the  war,  Amer 
icans  were  not  interested  in  European  life  and  people.  For 
example,  a  popular  magazine  published  a  picture  repre 
senting  a  Jew  from  Warsaw  and  a  Caucasian  mountaineer, 
entitling  it:  "Russian  Types  from  Russia  in  General."  An 
official  organization  asked  the  governor  how  many  Russians 
there  were  in  his  state.  The  official  replied,  "In  the  city 
of  N  on  X  Street,  there  are  many  Russians  of  Jewish  descent. 
We  have  no  information  about  other  Russians."  It  is  true 
that  during  the  first  period  of  immigration  from  Russia, 
Jews  and  Poles  predominated,  therefore,  Americans  conclude 
that  the  population  of  Russia  chiefly  consists  of  them.  Be 
fore  Americans  can  attempt  to  Americanize  the  immigrant, 
they  must  study  his  life  and  culture. 

That  this  feeling  of  a  Russian  editor  has  some 


196  The  Russian  Immigrant 

foundation  in  fact,  the  present  study  has  demon 
strated.  In  order  to  assimilate  the  foreigner  we 
must  break  down  prejudice  on  both  sides,  Ameri 
can  as  well  as  Russian.  Says  President  W.  G. 
Harding:19 

The  person  of  foreign  birth  is  more  a  victim  in  this  coun 
try  than  a  conspirator,  because  agitators  have  been  preaching 
the  gospel  of  revolution  to  him  incessantly,  whereas  no  one 
so  far  seems  to  have  preached  to  him  the  blessings  of  an 
orderly  government  and  the  rewards  of  American  oppor 
tunity.  America,  that  has  invited  and  enlisted  foreign  man 
power  for  its  industries,  has  even  neglected  to  teach  the 
immigrant  the  American  language.  It  is  far  more  important 
to  practice  than  to  preach  "Americanism." 

The  few  remedies  here  proposed  are  merely 
suggestions.  This  study  has  attempted  to  describe 
conditions,  not  to  prescribe  cures.  It  has  demon 
strated  the  fact  that  the  foreign-born  Russians  at 
present  are  isolated  and  out  of  touch  with  the 
average  American  life.  In  some  way  the  barriers 
to  assimilation  must  be  broken  down.  A  scientific 
solution  of  the  problem  now  will  save  America  con 
tinual  social  loss,  and  possible  crisis  in  the  future. 

19  Foreign  Born,  March,  1920,  p.  19. 


APPENDIX 

THE    SOCIAL    IMPRESS    OF    AN    AUTOCRACY  x 
A  Peasant  Immigration 

THE  Russians  who  have  come  streaming  to  our 
shores  in  such  great  .numbers  have  not  carried  with 
them  large  accumulations  of  material  wealth,  nor 
have  they  been  burdened  with  the  usual  tourists' 
conglomeration  of  boxes  and  bags.  Their  baggage 
has  been  of  a  different  sort.  It  consisted  in  the 
social  heritage  of  an  autocracy.  Unalterably 
opposed  to  the  Tsar's  tyranny  as  was  the  United 
States  Government,  yet  she  could  not  force  these 
newcomers  to  check  this  peculiarly  personal  baggage, 
the  social  impress  of  an  autocracy,  at  the  door.  It 
was  brought  in  and  carried  far  and  wide  wherever 
the  Russian  went. 

From  the  investigation  conducted  by  the  Immi 
gration  Commission  we  know  that  92  per  cent 
of  the  Russians  migrating  to  the  United  States 
belonged  to  the  peasant  laboring  class.  Over  ninety- 

1  This  chapter  is  inserted  in  the  Appendix  because  it  deals  with 
conditions  in  Russia  rather  than  America.  It  may  help  toward  an 
appreciation  of  the  Russian's  state  of  mind  as  he  confronts  an  en 
tirely  new  situation.  Considerable  of  the  material  appeared  in  a 
different  form  in  the  Political  Science  Quarterly,  June,  1922.  For 
further  information  on  the  Russian  background  consult  the  United 
States  Immigration  Reports,  vol.  4,  pp.  239-348. 

197 


198  The  Russian  Immigrant 

five  out  of  every  hundred  were  over  sixteen  years 
of  age.  Their  minds  had  been  definitely  molded  by 
the  social  institutions  of  Russia,  and  their  view  of 
America,  as  we  have  seen,  has  been  warped  by  that 
process. 

Land  Holdings 

In  order  to  understand  the  outlook  which  they 
bring  with  them,  we  shall  consider  briefly  their 
condition  in  Russia.  From  the  liberation  of  the 
serfs  in  the  sixties  until  the  pre-war  period,  the 
amount  of  land  held  by  the  individual  peasant  had 
fallen  nearly  one-half.  A  large  number  of  peasants 
had  lost  all  their  land  by  either  renting  it  for  a  long 
period  or  by  going  to  work  for  wages.  In  1900 
the  average  amount  held  had  fallen  to  2.6  dessy- 
tines,  or  about  seven  acres.  Since  that  time,  owing 
to  the  rapid  increase  of  population,  there  has  been  a 
still  greater  shortage.  Land  hunger  became  espec 
ially  acute  in  the  provinces  of  Kiev,  Podalsk,  Poltava, 
Kursk  and  Tulsk.  This  probably  contributed  to  the 
emigration  from  these  districts. 

Agricultural  Backwardness 

Besides  an  unequal  distribution  of  the  land,  Russia 
has  been  afflicted  with  agricultural  backwardness. 
Wooden  plows  and  harrows  were  in  common  use; 
ropes  or  fiber  thongs  were  the  chief  material  for  the 
harness  of  carts  or  plows.  Where  the  mir  existed, 
the  land  was  owned  in  common  by  the  entire  village. 
Each  peasant  received  a  narrow  strip  between  two 


The  Social  Impress  of  an  Autocracy        199 

and  ten  yards  wide,  but  even  where  there  was  no 
mir,  the  strip  system  of  ownership  prevailed.  This 
enormously  increased  the  difficulties  of  production, 
but  individual  industry  and  initiative  were  dulled 
still  further  by  the  fact  that,  under  the  mir,  in  order 
to  insure  fairness,  the  holdings  were  reapportioned 
every  few  years.  In  addition,  shiftless,  slow  and 
easy-going  habits  met  with  little  rebuke  under  the 
communal  system.  Regardless  of  how  little  or  how 
much  improvement  a  peasant  had  made  on  his  land, 
he  was  liable  to  lose  it  at  the  next  redistribution. 
Even  where  there  was  private  ownership,  the  waste 
ful  three-field  system,  whereby  one-third  of  the  land 
lay  idle  each  year,  still  prevailed. 

Conditions  in  Industry 

It  is  no  wonder  that  increasing  numbers  left  the 
soil  to  enter  industry.  By  1908  there  were  over  a 
million  and  a  half  factory  workers  in  Russia.  But 
here,  too,  conditions  were  very  hard.  In  1900  the 
average  pay  of  an  adult  male  worker  was  only  about 
twenty  roubles  a  month.  This  necessitated  an 
extremely  low  standard  of  living.  For  example,  two 
families  would  often  share  one  room.  The  hours 
of  work  were  long,  seldom  averaging  less  than 
twelve  a  day,  and  the  men  were  not  permitted  to 
organize.  It  is  true,  the  same  speed  and  machine- 
like  efficiency  that  one  finds  in  an  American  factory 
were  absent;  the  worker  was  able  to  go  more  slowly 
and  get  more  rest,  but  his  lot  was  not  an  enviable 


2OO  The  Russian  Immigrant 

one.  Although  organization  was  not  permitted, 
secret  unions  with  their  accompaniment  of  radical 
agitators  and  socialistic  and  anarchistic  literature 
abounded.  The  workers  were  taught  to  believe  that 
in  reality  they  should  own  and  control  the  factories 
and  receive  "all  the  product  of  their  toil." 

The  Peasants9  Attitude  toward  the  Land 

Conditions  in  industry,  however,  were  not  suffi 
ciently  attractive  to  tempt  the  great  mass  of  the 
peasants,  and  besides,  they  loved  the  land  and  "the 
work  in  the  fields  as  they  loved  no  other  kind  of 
work."  They  speak  of  the  land  in  such  endearing 
terms  as  "mother-earth,"  "drink-giver"  and  "food- 
giver."  But  the  peasant  thought  that  he  was 
entitled  to  all  he  produced.  Perhaps  he  was  not 
getting  it,  but  he  believed  that  he  would  when  once 
the  "greedy  landlords"  were  dispossessed.  In  the 
peasant  courts,  where  law  is  administered  on  the 
basis  of  custom  and  folk-ways,  labor  is  recognized 
as  "having  rights  superior  to  property  and  even 
kinship."  Sons-in-law,  stepsons  and  adopted  sons 
have  all  the  inheritance  rights  of  children  born  in 
the  home,  and  the  first-born  son  is  debarred  if  he 
does  not  take  part  in  the  common  work. 

The  Cooperative  Movement 

The  close  village  life,  the  economic  needs  of  the 
people  and  a  lack  of  the  means  of  transportation,  as 


The  Social  Impress  of  an  Autocracy        201 

well  as  a  severe  climate  have  all  tended  to  foster 
the  cooperative  movement  in  Russia.  In  spite  of 
much  governmental  interference,  there  were  in  1905 
about  5,800  local  societies  in  Russia.  By  1912  these 
had  increased  to  18,083  locals,  with  a  membership 
of  5,760,000  "householders,"  and  at  the  beginning 
of  1919  the  number  of  societies  had  increased  to 
80,000,  with  20,000,000  householders. 

The  Russian  peasants  crave  society  and  all  live 
together  in  a  village.  The  little  wooden  huts  with 
thatched  roofs  usually  contain  but  one  room  and  a 
shed.  The  one  room  combines  kitchen,  dining,  living 
and  bedrooms,  besides  being  used  for  a  calf-pen, 
pig-sty,  or  horse-stall  in  cold  weather.  In  summer, 
when  the  children  sleep  outside,  the  doors  and 
windows  are  open,  and  the  entire  family  spends  the 
day  in  the  fields,  perhaps  the  one  room  is  adequate. 
In  winter,  when  all  sleep  in  the  one  room  and  the 
windows  and  doors  are  tightly  closed,  conditions 
are  not  so  satisfactory,  but  even  then  the  huge  oven 
on  which  part  of  the  family  sleeps  must  cause  some 
change  of  air  in  the  loosely  built  hut.  The  conges 
tion  is  bad,  but  it  is  usually  limited  to  one  household 
— although  this  may  include  daughters-in-law. 

Health 

The  diet  of  the  peasant  is  largely  vegetarian,  since 
meat  is  expensive.  His  bill  of  fare  is  made  up 
chiefly  of  rye  bread,  potatoes,  milk  products,  and 


2O2  The  Russian  Immigrant 

the  various  vegetables  in  season,  fresh  from  his 
own  fields.  Nevertheless,  famines  recur  periodically 
and  then  thousands  starve,  as  they  did  in  1891  and 
in  1899.  Disease  is  prevalent  owing  to  the  lack 
of  sanitation  and  doctors.  In  America  we  have  one 
physician  to  every  800  persons,  but  in  European 
Russia,  in  1912,  there  was  only  one  for  every  13,000 
in  the  cities  and  towns,  and  one  for  every  21,900  in 
the  country. 

The  Family 

The  Russian  peasant  usually  has  a  large  family, 
as  is  evidenced  by  the  rapid  increase  of  the  popula 
tion  as  a  whole,  in  spite  of  the  high  death  rate.  A 
woman  works  at  least  as  hard,  if  not  harder,  than 
her  husband.  She  usually  milks  the  cow,  feeds  the 
poultry  and  live  stock,  cooks,  washes,  cares  for  the 
children,  and  in  summer  toils  in  the  fields  with  the 
men.  The  children  early  begin  to  work. 

In  spite  of  the  many  hardships  of  life  in  Russia 
there  are  compensations.  A  peasant  member  of  the 
Duma  once  told  of  the  terrible  condition  of  his  own 
people,  "their  needs,  their  wants,  their  misery,  their 
ignorance.  All  the  same,  we  have  great  fun  in  our 
village;  you  ought  to  come  and  stay  there.  There 
is  no  such  life  in  the  world."  Every  village  has  its 
sunshine  and  laughter  intermingled  with  its  sorrows. 


The  Social  Impress  of  an  Autocracy        203 

Recreational  Life 

Perhaps  one  reason  for  this  is  that  the  Russians 
have  always  been  a  singing  people.  They  sing  while 
they  work  and  they  sing  while  they  play.  The 
balalaika,  a  sort  of  triangular  guitar,  and  the  accor 
dion  are  very  popular.  On  Sundays  and  holidays 
the  young  men  and  girls  go  for  festival  walks  to  the 
accompaniment  of  this  music.  The  main  enjoyment 
seems  to  be  playful  conversation,  music,  and  the 
out-of-doors.  The  Russian  falls  heir  to  a  wealth  of 
folk  songs.  There  are  historical  epics,  and  lyrics 
of  love,  warfare,  and  death.  There  are  nature 
songs  welcoming  back  the  sun  after  the  winter, 
besides  special  ones  for  every  festival. 

On  their  gala  days  the  Russians  enjoy  nothing 
better  than  singing  and  dancing.  The  girls  often 
wear  brilliantly  colored  costumes  much  adorned  with 
embroidery  and  beading;  these  add  to  the  pictur- 
esqueness  of  the  dancing,  which  is  both  individual 
and  social.  The  scene  is  one  of  rollicking  fun  and 
wholesome  sociality.  The  Russian  has  a  sense  for 
dramatic  art,  and  frequently  the  villagers  will  stage 
humorous  dialogues.  Festival  days  are  so  frequent 
and  the  Sabbath  is  so  well  observed  that  the  peasants 
do  have  adequate  recreation.  Indeed,  the  Russian 
is  probably  far  more  socialized  in  this  respect  than 
the  average  American,  whose  amusements  too  often 
must  center  around  the  thrill  of  the  unusual  under 


204  The  Russian  Immigrant 

circumstances    which    are    not    conducive    to    real 
re-creation. 

Religion 

The  Greek  Orthodox  faith,  the  prevailing  religion, 
by  using  elaborate  ceremonial  forms  among  an 
ignorant  peasantry,  has  ministered  to  superstition, 
and  helped  to  maintain  the  authority  of  the  Tsar, 
who  was  the  temporal  head  of  the  Church.  Beautiful 
edifices  have  been  built,  with  magnificent  interiors, 
inspiring  music,  burning  candles,  and  priests  in 
golden  robes,  but  almost  nothing  has  been  done  in 
the  way  of  social  service.  For  the  most  part,  the 
priests  have  not  even  dared  to  preach  to  the  people, 
but  have  often  served  as  secret  agents  for  the  Tsar. 
In  the  organization  of  reactionary  parties,  the 
church  authorities  have  always  played  a  part.  It  is 
natural  that  many  Russians  could  not  remain  in  this 
faith.  Although  theoretically  there  was  religious 
freedom  in  Russia,  practically  there  was  not.  Those 
who  split  from  the  Orthodox  Church,  whether  Old 
Believers,  Dukhobors,  Molokans,  Stundists  or  the 
followers  of  Sutaiev,  were  persecuted.  Some  of 
them  were  even  driven  from  their  villages  and 
banished  to  Siberia.  Tragic  indeed  are  the  stories 
of  not  a  few  of  those  who  emigrated  to  America. 

Education 

In  matters  of  education,   the  peasant  has  been 
worse  off  than  in  religion.    In  1912,  out  of  a  popula- 


The  Social  Impress  of  an  Autocracy       205 

tion  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  millions,  only  seven 
were  in  school.  Moreover,  according  to  the  report 
of  the  investigating  committee  of  the  third  Duma, 
the  educational  influence  which  the  schools  exerted 
was  insignificant.  Many  children,  soon  after  leaving, 
were  found  to  be  practically  illiterate — the  terms 
were  for  only  four  or  five  months  in  the  winter, 
anyway.  It  is  no  wonder  that  at  least  fifty  per  cent 
could  not  even  sign  their  own  names,  and  nearer 
seventy  per  cent  could  not  read. 

Even  for  the  literate,  only  censored  material  was 
available.  Not  one  word  could  be  printed  without 
being  approved  by  the  Tsar's  appointee.  Since  the 
independent  press  followed  the  practice  of  leaving 
blank  the  .parts  deleted  by  the  Government,  often 
whole  front  page  columns  would  be  left  with  only 
here  and  there  a  sentence.  This  naturally  made  the 
thinking  people  deeply  suspicious  of  the  papers,  the 
news,  and  the  Government. 

Relation  to  the  Government 

Nearly  always  where  the  peasant  came  in  contact 
with  the  Government,  the  relationship  was  a  harsh 
and  disagreeable  one.  The  Ispravnik,  or  police 
commissioner,  had  general  supervision  over  each 
district.  His  will  was  law.  He  could  fine  or 
imprison  any  one  he  chose.  Under  him  was  the 
Uriadnik,  or  constable,  who  also  had  absolute  power, 
subject  to  the  disapproval  of  the  Ispravnik.  To 


206  The  Russian  Immigrant 

make  inspection  he  could  enter  any  house  at  any 
time  of  day  or  night  without  a  warrant.  He  could 
tear  down  an  entire  building  if  he  claimed  it  did  not 
meet  the  regulations.  Besides  these  officials  there 
was  the  Zemsky  Nachalnik,  who  had  administration 
over  all  the  rural  institutions  and  was  higher  than 
the  Uriadnik.  He  could  depose  the  elective  officials 
of  the  peasant  commune  or  mir,  and  order  any 
peasant  flogged.  He  belonged  to  the  nobility  and 
naturally  would  not  betray  their  interests.  There 
was  only  one  way  to  placate  an  angry  official  in 
most  of  the  villages  and  that  was  through  bribery. 
Moreover,  if  an  official  wanted  work  done  on  his 
estate,  the  peasants  would,  of  course,  never  dare  to 
charge  for  it.  They  feared  and  hated  the  ordinary 
government  official  and  tried  to  curry  his  favor  on 
all  occasions. 

There  was  another  way  in  which  the  peasant  came 
into  contact  with  the  Government,  and  that  was 
through  the  sale  of  vodka.  The  Government  had  a 
monopoly  of  its  sale,  and  nearly  one-third  of  the 
total  state  revenue  was  derived  in  this  way.  It  was 
illegal  to  sell  this  liquor  with  an  alcohol  content  of 
less  than  40  per  cent,  and  it  might  contain  nearer 
60  per  cent.  This  did  much  to  stultify  any  initiative 
which  the  peasant  might  have  had,  and  to  keep  him 
in  economic  bondage. 

Taxes  were  extremely  heavy.  In  some  cases  they 
were  more  than  the  total  income  from  the  land. 
Yet  since  the  village  commune  was  responsible  collec- 


The  Social  Impress  of  an  Autocracy       207 

tively  for  the  payment  of  the  tax,  and  the  peasant 
could  not  by  law  leave  his  village  without  consent, 
he  was  hopelessly  under  bondage.  Besides,  there 
were  officials  who  could  flog  and  imprison  the 
delinquent.  Even  after  the  redemption  payments 
on  land  were  canceled  in  1905,  the  indirect  taxes  on 
tea,  sugar,  cotton,  and  other  articles  used  by  the 
peasants  were  increased  until  60  per  cent  of  the  total 
national  revenue  was  raised  in  this  way. 

Worst  of  all,  the  male  peasant  was  compelled  to 
serve  five  years  in  the  army  and,  in  case  of  hostilities, 
could  be  conscripted  and  plunged  into  the  maelstrom 
of  war  over  issues  about  which  he  knew  little  and 
cared  less.  It  was  thus,  in  the  World  War,  that 
Russia  mobilized  sixteen  million  men.  They  were 
snatched  from  their  homes,  perhaps  not  to  return 
even  on  furlough  during  three  long  years  of  war. 
They  served  at  a  wage  of  fifty  kopeks  (twenty-five 
cents)  a  month.  They  ate  out  of  a  common  dish 
pan,  seven  soldiers  dipping  their  wooden  spoons  into 
the  same  bowl  for  their  noonday  meal.  There  was 
little  or  no  welfare  work  done  for  them — they  died 
like  flies.  At  home  their  wives  struggled  alone  with 
the  land,  accepting  without  a  murmur  whatever  came 
of  sickness  and  death.  Frequently  for  years  they 
were  entirely  without  word  from  their  husbands, 
who  might  be  alive  or  dead  for  all  they  knew.  Yet 
in  this  war  they  were  treated  better  than  in  any  of 
the  former  wars  by  which  Russia  has  been  afflicted. 


208  The  Russian  Immigrant 

Summary  of  Environmental  Conditions 

We  have  examined  briefly  the  European  back 
ground  of  the  Russian;  let  us  sum  up  the  main 
environmental  conditions  which  might  affect  his 
conduct  in  America. 

Centuries  of  agricultural  labor  had  intensified  his 
love  for  the  land.  In  spite  of  hard  and  bitter 
conditions,  he  remained  on  the  soil,  but  felt  that  he 
was  being  cheated  out  of  the  full  product  of  his 
labor. 

Conditions  in  industry  were  hard,  but  not  as 
hurried  and  machine-like  as  in  America.  Often  the 
worker  became  inoculated  with  socialistic  and  an 
archistic  ideas. 

The  communal  land  ownership,  the  close  village 
life,  and  the  continued  restriction  of  individual 
initiative  forced  him  more  and  more  into  coopera 
tive  effort. 

The  peasant  lived  in  congested,  unsanitary  quar 
ters,  but  these  conditions  were  mitigated  by  his 
outdoor  life. 

He  was  used  to  a  vegetarian  diet  of  fresh  farm 
products. 

He  had  little  experience  with  doctors  and  accepted 
those  available  without  question. 

The  women  worked  equally  hard  with  the  men. 

Recreation  was  wholesome  and  satisfied  the 
impulse  to  sociality. 

The  church  satisfied  the  mystical  craving  of  the 


The  Social  Impress  of  an  Autocracy       209 

masses,  but  was  doing  little  social  service  work  and 
was  definitely  linked  up  with  the  autocracy. 

Schools  were  few  and  the  masses  were  illiterate. 

The  government  was  such  that  the  peasants  lived 
in  continual  fear  of  the  officials  and,  for  the  most 
part,  suffered  under  and  disliked  the  military  service. 

Such  were  the  social  conditions  in  the  Tsar's 
regime  which,  during  all  his  life,  bound  the  mind 
of  the  Russian.  He  was  the  victim  of  religious 
intolerance,  social  inequality,  economic  discrimina 
tion,  political  despotism,  and  compulsory  ignorance. 
While  all  these  conditions  made  life  uncomfortable, 
poverty  was  the  most  potent  force  in  stimulating 
emigration. 

Obstacles  to  Emigration 

But  America  could  claim  only  the  more  alert  and 
forceful.  For  the  masses,  the  difficulties  that  stood 
in  the  way  were  too  great.  For  years  the  Govern 
ment  had  feared  greatly  that  Russians  emigrating  to 
foreign  countries  might  get  republican  ideas.  Emi 
gration  was  a  thing  unknown  to  the  Russian  law  and 
the  adoption  of  foreign  citizenship  was  illegal.  The 
longest  period  for  which  a  passport  could  be  granted 
was  five  years,  and  this  demanded  special  permission 
from  the  administrative  department. 

Later,  however,  in  the  reign  of  the  last  Tsar,  the 
Government  evidently  decided  that  a  sojourn  in 
America  would  not  necessarily  result  in  republican 
ideas,  for  immigrants  would  see  only  the  dark  side. 


2io  The  Russian  Immigrant 

In  1905  the  chairman  of  the  Council  of  the  Tsar's 
Ministers,  S.  Witte,  even  said  in  a  speech  to  the 
railroad  workers,  "Look  on  the  republic  of  America, 
and  you,  gentlemen,  will  find  that  political  liberty 
which  prevails  there  always  has  served  and  will 
serve  the  interests  of  the  rich,  but  not  the  prole 
tariat." 

Every  emigrant,   nevertheless,   had  to  secure   a 
special  passport  from  the  governor  of  the  province. 
This  meant  filing  an  application  which  cost  money. 
Furthermore,  if  the  applicant  was  within  three  years 
of  military  age,  it  would  be  doubtful  if  his  request 
would  be  granted.     To  leave  the  country  illegally 
was  possible,  but  this,  again,  meant  the  payment  of 
a  bribe  to  those  who  would  make  the  arrangements. 
Even  if  able  to  leave,   the  trip   to  America  cost 
nearly  one  hundred  dollars,   and  this  seemed   an 
enormous  sum  to  the  poor  peasant.     Still,  many  did 
get  away.    The  Jews  came  first,  and  their  letters  to 
friends  about  the  wealth  of  America  stimulated  the 
peasants  in  the  border  states  to  try  their  fortune  in 
this  land  of  untold  opportunity.     There  were  three 
chief  groups :  the  political  refugees,  or  revolutionists, 
the  unorthodox,  who  sought  religious  freedom,  and 
the  vast  majority  who  came  to  make  money  and 
then  return  home,  or  at  least  to  escape  the  poverty 
and  injustice  of  Russia.     There  were  still  a  few 
others  who  sought  a  new  experience,  exploration  and 
adventure  with  new  opportunities. 


The  Social  Impress  of  an  Autocracy       211 

Characteristics  of  the  Russian 

Because  of  the  conditions  in  his  European  back 
ground  and  because  of  certain  racial  traits,  the 
Russian  has  come  to  America  with  other  marked 
personal  characteristics.  Professor  Etienne  Anto- 
nelli,  a  political  scientist  of  France,  who  has  spent 
years  in  Russia,  has  summarized  the  thought  of  many 
Russian  writers  in  the  following: 

1.  The  peasant  has  a  predominance  of  feeling  over  will. 

2.  He  does  not  perceive  inconsistencies  and  is  tolerant 
of  ideas. 

3.  He  has  a  horror  of  any  kind  of  rule  or  any  kind  of 
compulsion. 

4.  He  has  little  forethought  and  yields  to  the  pleasure  of 
the  moment. 

5.  He  feels  that  passion  excuses  everything. 

6.  He   has   no    idea   of   parliamentary   government   and 
dislikes  any  kind  of  law. 

7.  He  has  intellectual  curiosity. 

8.  He  places  the  soul   or  personality  above  everything 
else,  has  a  contempt  for  material  things,  and  is  incapable 
of  strong  hate. 

9.  He  believes  in  humility.    The  individual  should  efface 
himself  in  all. 

Some  of  these  traits  have  been  emphasized  in 
Russian  literature  and  unquestionably  there  is  an 
element  of  truth  in  them,  but  their  universal  appli 
cation  is  doubtful.  For  example,  the  peasant  may 
hate  laws  and  rules,  but  he  certainly  did  not  object 


212  The  Russian  Immigrant 

very  seriously  to  those  imposed  by  the  mir.  Any 
list  of  characteristics  must  be  incomplete  and  open 
to  criticism,  but  the  writer  prefers  to  call  attention 
to  the  following: 

The  Russian  is  very  patient  and  stolid.  He  is 
willing  to  endure  a  good  deal,  even  under  bad 
conditions,  and  will  work  uncomplainingly  for  long 
hours  at  low  wages.  The  peasant  is  thoroughly 
religious.  In  every  home  you  see  an  ikon,  or  sacred 
picture.  As  to  the  church  and  the  priest,  he  may  or 
may  not  be  skeptical,  depending  on  his  experience. 
His  love  of  music  and  the  theater  is  a  well-known 
characteristic.  He  is  very  sympathetic,  always  will 
ing  to  contribute  to  the  need  of  those  who  are 
suffering.  If  a  Russian  is  killed  in  a  mine  or  factory, 
his  neighbors  will  often  care  for  the  widow  and 
children,  though  they  themselves  may  barely  be 
making  a  living.  The  peasant  is  naturally  suspicious 
of  strangers,  the  inevitable  and  bitter  result  of  a 
long  experience  with  those  whom  he  regards  as 
superiors.  None  the  less,  sociability  is  a  marked 
trait.  The  Russian  likes  to  talk  by  the  hour  to  his 
friends  and  will  share  his  last  morsel  of  food,  while 
he  talks  with  a  stranger.  He  is  also  quickly  respon 
sive  to  what  strikes  him  as  a  higher  good,  and  is 
willing  to  suffer  for  it.  The  long  record  of  those 
who  have  died  for  their  revolutionary  ideals,  and 
the  larger  number  who  have  suffered  for  years  in 
the  Tsar's  prisons  is  eloquent  testimony  to  this  trait. 

Such,  then,  is  the  character  of  the  Russian  Slav 


The  Social  Impress  of  an  Autocracy       213 

who  comes  to  replenish  the  labor  of  our  industrial 
army  in  factory,  mine,  and  workshop.  The  impress 
of  an  autocratic  Tsar's  regime  lies  heavy  upon  these 
people.  They  come  with  a  big  handicap,  but  also 
with  traits  which  are  good.  Many  of  them  have  the 
same  longing  for  liberty  that  actuated  our  fore 
fathers  when  they  founded  this  republic.  We  should 
be  ready  to  help  them  to  understand  and  appreciate 
our  democracy.  Furthermore,  America  needs  their 
labor,  and  if  they  can  but  be  assimilated,  they  may 
well  contribute  to  our  welfare  and  happiness. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

ON 

THE  RUSSIANS  IN  AMERICA 
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Century  Co.,  1917. 

Antin,  Mary,  The  Promised  Land,  Boston  and  New  York:  Hough- 
ton  Mifflin  Co.,  1912. 

Antin,  Mary,  They  Who  Knock  at  Our  Gates,  Boston  and  New 
York:  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  1914. 

Balch,  E.  G.,  Our  Slavic  Fellow  Citizens,  New  York:  Charities 
Publication  Committee,  1910. 

Breckinridge,  S.  P.,  New  Homes  for  Old,  New  York:  Harper  and 
Brothers  Co.,  1921. 

Byington,  M.  F.,  Homestead:  The  Households  of  a  Mill  Town,  New 
York:  Charities  Publication  Committee,  1910. 

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Experiment  in  Los  Angeles  in  the  summer  of  IQI?  for 
Americanization  of  foreign-born  women,  Sacramento:  State 
Printing  Office,  1917. 

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Commons,  J.  R.,  Races  and  Immigrants  in  America,  New  York: 
Macmillan  Co.,  1915. 

Daniels,  John,  America  via  the  Neighborhood,  New  York:  Harper 
and  Brothers  Co.,  1920. 

Davis,  M.  M.,  Jr.,  Immigrant  Health  and  the  Community,  New 
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cago:  Fleming  H.  Revell  Co.,  1913. 

Fitch,  J.  A.,  The  Steel  Workers,  New  York:  Charities  Publication 
Committee,  1910. 

Grose,  H.  B.,  Aliens  or  Americans?  New  York:  Missionary  Educa 
tion  Movement,  1912. 

Henry,  J.  R.,  Some  Immigrant  Neighbors,  New  York  and  Chicago: 
Fleming  H.  Revell  Co.,  1912. 

Hodges,  LeRoy,  Slavs  on  Southern  Farms,  Washington:  Government 
Printing  Office,  1914.  Senate  Document,  No.  595. 

McClure,  Archibald,  Leadership  of  the  New  America,  Racial  and 
Religious,  New  York:  George  H.  Doran  Co.,  1916. 

Orth,   S.   P.,   Our  Foreigners;  A   Chronicle   of  Americans   in  the 
Making,  New  Haven:  Yale  University  Press,  1920. 
215 


216  The  Russian  Immigrant 

Park,  R.  E.,  and  Miller,  H.  A.,  Old  World  Traits  Transplanted, 
New  York:  Harper  and  Brothers  Co.,  1920. 

Prugavin,  A  S.,  Religious  Sects  in  New  'York,  Pamphlet  in  Rus 
sian. 

Prugavin,  A.  S.,  Die  Inquisition  der  russisch  orthodoxen  Kirche, 
Berlin:  F.  Gottheiner,  1905. 

Ripley,  W.  Z.,  The  Races  of  Europe,  New  York:  D.  Appleton  and 
Co.,  1899. 

Roberts,  Peter,  Immigrant  Races  in  North  America,  New  York: 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  Press,  1910. 

Roberts,  Peter,  The  New  Immigration,  New  York:  Macmillan  Co., 
1912. 

Ross,  E.  A.,  The  Old  World  in  the  New,  New  York:  Century  Co., 
1914. 

Sheridan,  F.  J.,  Italian,  Slavic,  and  Hungarian.  Unskilled  Immigrant 
Laborers  in  the  United  States,  Washington:  Government 
Printing  Office,  1907.  Dept.  of  Labor  Bulletin,  vol.  15. 

Slavic  Alliance  in  Cleveland,  Cleveland,  1904.  Pamphlet  in  Rus 
sian. 

Smith,  R.  K.,  The  People  of  the  Eastern  Orthodox  Churches,  Spring 
field  (Mass.),  1913. 

Sokoloff,  Alexis,  Mediaeval  Russia,  New  York:  Survey  Associates, 
1914.  Pittsburg  Survey,  vol.  6. 

Sokaloff,  Lillian,  Russians  in  Los  Angeles,  University  of  Southern 
California,  1918.  Publications  in  Sociology,  NO.  17. 

Speek,  P.  A.,  A  Stake  in  the  Land,  New  York:  Harper  and  Brothers 
Co.,  1921. 

Steiner,  E.  A.,  The  Broken  Wall,  New  York  and  Chicago:  Fleming 
H.  Revell  Co.,  1911. 

Thompson,  F.  V.,  Schooling  of  the  Immigrant,  New  York:  Harper 
and  Brothers  Co.,  1920- 

Thompson,  R.  A.,  The  Russian  Settlement  in  California  Known  as 
Fort  Rosa,  Santa  Rosa  (Cal.) :  Sonoma  Democrat  Publishing 
Co.,  1896.  Pamphlet. 

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Census,  Washington:  Government  Printing  Office. 

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Hundred  Years  of  American  Immigration,  Washington: 
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Reports,  No.  254. 

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Van  Kleeck,  Mary,  Artificial  Flower  Makers,  New  York:  Survey 
Associates,  1913. 

Warne,  F.  J.,  The  Immigrant  Invasion,  New  York:  Dodd,  Mead 
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Wright,  C.  D.,  Influence  of  Trade  Unions  on  Immigrants,  Wash 
ington:  Government  Printing  Office,  1905.  Department  of 
Labor  Bulletin,  No.  56. 


II.  MAGAZINE  ARTICLES 

Ainsworth,    F.    H.,    "Are    We    Shouldering    Europe's    Burden?" 

Charities,  and  the  Commons,  vol.  12,  pp.  134-5,  February  6, 

1904. 
Balch,  E.  G.,  "Peasant  Background  of  Our  Slavic  Fellow  Citizens," 

Survey,  vol.  24,  pp.  666-77,  August  6,  1910. 
Boas,    Franz,    "Race    Problems    in    America,"    Science,    vol.    29, 

pp.  839-49,  May  28,  1909. 
Boeckh,    Richard,    "The    Determination    of    Racial    Stock    Among 

American  Immigrants,"  Quarterly  Publications  of  the  Ameri 
can  Statistical  Association,  vol.   10,  pp.   199-221,  December, 

1906. 
Bolonski,    J.    R.,    "Poolrooms    or    Schoolrooms    for    Russians    in 

America,"  Survey,  vol.  44,  pp.  519-20,  July  17,  1920. 
Cance,  Alexander,  "Slav  Farmers  on  the  'Abandoned  Farm'  Area 

of  Connecticut,"  Survey,  vol.  27,  pp.  951-6,  October  7,  1911. 
Cance,  Alexander,  "Immigrant  Rural  Communities,"  Annals  of  the 

American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science,  vol.  40, 

pp.  69-80,  March,   1912. 
Claghorn,   K.    H.,    "Immigration    in    Its    Relation   to    Pauperism," 

Annals   of  the  American  Academy  of  Political   and  Social 

Science,  vol.  24,  pp.  187-205,  July,  1904. 
Claghorn,    K.    H.,    "Our    Immigrants    and    Ourselves,"    Atlantic 

Monthly,  vol.  86,  pp.  535-48,  October,  1900. 
Commons,   J.   R.,    "Race    Composition    of   the    American    People," 

Chautauquan,    vol.    38,    pp.    33-42,    118-25,    223-34,    333'4O> 

433-43,  533-43J  vol.  39,  pp.  13-22,  115-24,  217-25,  September, 

1 903 -May,  1904. 
Commons,   J.    R.,    "Slavs    in   the   Bituminous    Mines    of    Illinois," 

Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  13,  pp.  227-9,  December  3, 

1904. 
Commons,  J.  R.,  "Wage  Earners  of  Pittsburg,"  Charities  and  the 

Commons,  vol.  21,  pp.  1051-64,  March  6,  1909. 
Durand,  E.  D.,  "Our  Immigrants  and  the  Future,"  World's  Work, 

vol.  23,  pp.  431-43,  February,  1912. 
Elkinton,  Joseph,  "The  Dukhobors,"  Charities  and  the  Commons, 

vol.  13,  pp.  252-6,  December  3,  1904. 
Fetler,    William,    "Russians    in    the    United    States,"    Missionary 

Review  of  the  World,  vol.  38,  pp.  923-8,  December,  1915. 


21 8  The  Russian  Immigrant 

Fleming,  W.  L.,   "Immigration  to  the   Southern   States,"   Political 

Science  Quarterly,  vol.  20,  pp.  276-97,  June,  1905. 
Foster,  Maximilian,  "The  Citizen,"  Everybody's,  vol.  19,  pp.  628-40, 

November,  1908. 

Gruszczynski,   Maxim,   "Russian   Immigrant   on   American   Conti 
nent,"  Pan-American  Magazine,  vol.  26,  pp.  29-34,  November, 

1917. 
Henry,    J.    R.,    "Do    Russians    Make    Good    American    Citizens?" 

World  Outlook,  vol.  6,  pp.  14-15,  May,  1920. 
Hine,  L.  W.,  "Immigrant  Types  in  the  Steel  Districts,"  Charities 

and  the  Commons,  vol.  21,  pp.  581-8,  January  2,  1909. 
Hrdlicka,  Ales,  "The   Slavs,"   Czecho-Slovak  Review,  vol.  2,  pp. 

180-187,  November,  1918. 

Hughes,  Elizabeth,  "Chicago  Housing  Conditions,"  American  Jour 
nal  of  Sociology,  vol.  20,  pp.  289-312,  November,  1914. 
Kellogg,  P.  U.,  "The  McKee's  Rocks  Strike,"  Survey,  vol.  22,  pp. 

656-65,  August  7,  1909. 
Kellor,  F.  A.,  "Protection  of  Immigrant  Women,"  Atlantic  Monthly, 

vol.  101,  pp.  246-55,  February,  1908. 
Koukol,  A.  B.,  "The  Slav's  a  Man  for  a'  That,"  Charities  and  the 

Commons,  vol.  21,  pp.  589-98,  January  2,  1909. 
Lauck,  W.  J..  "The  Bituminous  Coal  Miner  and  Coke  Worker  of 

Western  Pennsylvania,"  Survey,  vol.  26,  pp.  34-51,  April  i, 

1911. 
Lee,   Joseph,    "Assimilation    and    Nationality,"    Charities    and   the 

Commons,  vol.  19,  pp.  1453-55,  January  25,  1908. 
Literary  Digest,  "Russians  in  America,"  vol.  63,  p.  41,  November 

29,  1919. 
Lloyd,  J.  A.  T.,  "Teuton  versus  Slav,"  Fortnightly  Review,  vol.  105, 

pp.  883-93,  May,  1916. 
Lovejoy,  O.  R.,  "The  Slav  Child:  A  National  Asset  or  a  Liability," 

Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  14,  pp.  882-4,  July  i,  1905. 
McLaughlin,    Allan,    "The    Slavic    Immigrant,"    Popular    Science 

Monthly,  vol.  63,  pp.  25-32,  May,  1903. 
Mayo-Smith,    Richmond,    "Theories    of    Mixtures    of    Races    and 

Nationalities,"  Yale  Review,  vol.  3,  pp.  166-186,  August,  1894. 
Miller,   H.  A.,   "The  Lost   Division,"   Survey,  vol.   40,   pp.   307-9, 

June  15,  1918. 
Moravsky,  M.,  "Greenhorn  in  America,"  Atlantic  Monthly,  vol.  122, 

pp.  663-9,  November,  1918. 
Norton,  E.  S.,  "The  Need  of  a  General  Plan  for  Settling  Immigrants 

Outside  the  Great  Cities,"  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol. 

12,  pp.  152-4,  February  6,  1904. 
Outlook,  "Russian  Immigrant  and   His  Savings,"   vol.    114,  p.   13, 

September  6,  1916. 
Parker,  E.  H.,  "Russians  in  Business,"  Chamber's  Journal,  pp.  103-6, 

February,  1915. 
Ripley,  W.  Z.,  "Race  Factors  in  Labor  Unions,"  Atlantic  Monthly, 

vol.  93,  pp.  299-308,  March,  1904. 


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Roberts,  Peter,  "The  New  Pittsburgers:  Slavs  and  Kindred  Immi 
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Ross,  E.  A.,  "Slavs  in  America,"  Century  Magazine,  vol.  88,  pp. 
590-8,  August,  1914. 

Sayles,  M.  B.,  "Housing  and  Social  Conditions  in  a  Slavic  Neigh 
borhood,"  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  13,  pp.  257-61, 
December  3,  1904. 

Smith,  R.  D.,  "Some  Phases  of  the  McKee's  Rocks  Strike,"  Survey, 
vol.  23,  pp.  38-45,  October  2,  1909. 

Sokoloff,  Alexis,  "Old  Believers,"  Survey,  vol.  33,  pp.  145-51, 
November  7,  1914. 

Steiner,  E.  A.,  "From  the  Lovezin  to  Guinea  Hill,"  Outlook,  vol.  89, 
pp.  247-52,  May  30,  1908. 

Steiner,  E.  A.,  "The  Foreign  Born  Population  of  the  United  States," 
Scientific  Monthly,  vol.  8,  pp.  380-3,  April,  1919. 

Survey,  "Russians  in  American  Schools,"  vol.  44,  p.  590,  August 
2,  1920. 

Survey,  "United  for  Freedom  at  Home,"  vol.  40,  p.  292,  June  8,  1918. 

Townley-Fullam,  C,  "Pan-Slavism  in  America,"  Forum,  vol.  52, 
pp.  177-85,  August,  1914. 

Tridon,  A.,  "Russian  Baiting  in  Our  Ports,"  Public,  vol.  21,  pp. 
698-700,  June  i,  1918. 

Wilson,  H.  L.,  and  Smith,  E.  W.,  "Chicago  Housing  Conditions 
Among  Slovaks,"  American  Journal  of  Sociology,  vol.  20, 
pp.  145-169,  September,  1914. 

Wing,  M.  T.  C.,  "The  Flag  at  McKee's  Rocks,"  Survey,  vol.  23, 
pp.  45-6,  October  2,  1909. 

Woolston,  Florence,  "Slavs  in  the  United  States,"  Technical  World, 
pp.  135-44,  October,  1911. 


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